


parkner week 2019 (but over a year late)

by blxrryfxcxd



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Baking, Bisexual Peter Parker, Boys In Love, Canon Divergence - Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Domestic Avengers, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, Fix-It, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Gay Harley Keener, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, It's old, Jealousy, Karaoke, Lesbian Michelle Jones, Lesbian Shuri (Marvel), M/M, No Smut, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Beta Read, One Shot, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parades, Pride Parades, The Avengers Are Good Bros, Vine refrence, basically i thought there was a shortage of parkner fics atm, but it's real in the end, but not major, so i decided to post this, this is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-12 01:02:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 25,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28751877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blxrryfxcxd/pseuds/blxrryfxcxd
Summary: basically, i posted this on wattpad back in 2019, but i also thought,, why not post it here? i'm bored and have time. also, i feel like there's been a shortage of parker/parley fics soooi'm procrastinatingday 1: paradesday 2: jealousyday 3: bakingday 4: first kissday 5: secret confessionsday 6: hurt/comfortday 7: "hurricane tortilla!"day 8: karaokeday 9: fake datingday 10: tony stark
Relationships: Harley Keener/Peter Parker, James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers, Michelle Jones/Shuri
Comments: 8
Kudos: 82





	1. day one: parades

peter was ecstatic. he was finally going to his first pride parade. to be honest, he had no idea what it would be like. queens had never had one exclusively, and peter had never managed to get to manhattan pride. ned and mj had gone the year before, and they had said it was amazing. although, they'd not managed to get there early enough to look at all the stalls before they started packing away. this time, however, tony had let the three friends, plus shuri, stay at the tower the day before, so that they could wake up at a reasonable hour, as well as have time to experience everything.

~~~~~

it was the evening before pride, and the four friends were playing just dance when tony decided to strike up a conversation. however, they were halfway through dancing to umbrella (again - they were trying to all get five stars), so none of them were going to answer tony until it was over. the billionaire stood at the door and watched them, a tiny bit confused as to what was so important that they couldn't pause the game and listen to him for just one second-

"shuri, you suck at this game." mj said, as soon as the song ended.

"oh, come on! i was only, like, two hundred points off. and i'm furthest away from the sensor! it can barely see me!" shuri retorted.

"that's not good enough! now we have to play again, and i have to watch peter beat me, again."

"you're just a sore loser, mj. i'm just too good at this game." peter laughed.

"how, though?" ned decided to join the conversation.

"practice."

"i thought you hated playing this on your own?"

"yes, but i don't mind when i'm home alone."

"i hate you." mj spoke up again.

"love you t-" peter started to reply before tony shut him off.

"now that was very entertaining from an outsider's point of view, but seeming as none of you were listening the first time i said it, i need to introduce you to someone. i met him a while back - during the mandarin incident - and he wanted to go to manhattan pride as well, so, seeming as you were all going this year, i got him a plane ticket, and he's here now." tony stepped aside, allowing the teenagers to see a boy, who was a little taller than tony - none of them knew how tony had managed to hide him.

"oh, hi!" shuri was the first to speak. she was the most confident out of the group - considering that she had to participate in many press conferences in wakanda, and she had to talk to a lot of strangers. "i'm shuri, this is my girlfriend mj, this is ned, and this is peter." the princess continued, pointing to each person as she said their names.

"hey, i'm harley, and that was definitely the best just dance performance i've ever seen." the boy, now known as harley, smirked. "mind if i join in?"

"sure, you can take my place." ned offered, already taking his wii remote off his wrist. tony wasn't strict with his household rules, but after clint had put a hole in the tv after accidently letting go of the remote after a family game of wii sports, tony made the rule that everyone had to wear the wrist strap when playing.

"no, ned, keep your remote. harley, please come and take shuri's place. we're all trying to get five stars on this, and shuri is the only one who can't do it. we're getting tired over here."

"ned and i aren't, but go off." peter spoke up for the first time since harley had got there.

"well, ned isn't because he's only moving the hand that the sensor picks up. and god knows why you're not tired." mj replied. suddenly, everyone (exculding harley) gave mj a weird look as if to say 'we know why'. "okay, yes, five out of six of us in this room know why he's not tired. i was trying to cover peter, but i guess you all didn't want that." mj corrected herself with a shrug of her shoulders.

"four out of five people in this room, i'm out. pete, you're allowed to explain. you're gonna need to make an appearance as 'not yourself' tomorrow anyways." tony said, turning to leave. he was probably going to the lab to work on things. peter made a mental note to tell friday to make sure that tony was out of the lab at two, and wasn't allowed back in until nine the next morning.

"what?" harley asked as soon as tony left the room.

"thanks guys, really helpful." peter sighed.

"i tried, don't blame me." mj fired back.

"okay, not you. but shuri and ned."

"okay, i have no idea what's going on. what did tony mean by 'not yourself'?" harley asked.

"peter's spider-man." ned said, straight away.

"oh. makes sense. i thought it was a bit odd that tony had a personal intern. let alone a personal intern that he lets stay at the tower _and_ have friends round." harley responded. in his head, everything started to make a little bit more sense.

after that conversation, they all played just dance for three hours, before having pizza and then continuing. friday told peter that tony had sent him a message saying: "fuck you, parker." when he got kicked out of the lab by his own ai. peter had just smirked. by three in the morning, everyone but peter and harley were asleep. they decided to switch off the wii console before watching minecraft parodies on youtube. within half an hour, peter had fallen asleep. right on harley's shoulder.

half of harley's brain was telling him to move the boy, so that he wouldn't feel uncomfortable, but the other part of his brain was telling him that it would be fine, peter looked cute, and he didn't want to disturb him. after coming to the conclusion that the worst thing that was going to happen was that it could be awkward in the morning, harley decided to stay in the position he was, and leave peter resting on his shoulder. and within the next half an hour, harley was asleep.

~~~~~

peter woke up at around four in the morning. he wondered why he was so warm, seeming as he usually woke up in layers of blankets and was still cold. the only 'cover' anyone had used were their pride flags. it took a few minutes for peter to realise that he was pressed up against someone, his head under their chin. their hand was around his waist. his hand was on their chest. his first guess was that it was mj (peter, ned, and mj often fell asleep like that at sleepovers) - seeming as she was next to peter earlier that evening. then it occured to peter that mj was on the other side of him, cuddled up to shuri. and he wasn't against ned, because he was on the other sofa.

then peter realised that he was sleeping against harley. who had been a complete stranger twelve hours before. peter felt his cheeks heat up a little. how had he managed to get cuddled up to pretty much the cutest boy he had ever met in less than a day? he wondered if harley minded, but then he remembered that he had been the first to fall asleep, and harley's hand certainly wasn't around his waist beforehand. that means that harley must have decided to do that after peter fell asleep.

so peter went back to sleep.

~~~~~

mj, shuri, and ned woke up first. they'd pretty much woken up within thirty seconds of each other. mj and ned were about to start up a jumpscare video to wake peter and harley up, before shuri stopped them and actually made them look at the boys. for the first time, the other two teenagers saw how the two were cuddled up to each other.

"gay." mj snorted. "friday, take a picture. send it to mr stark with the message 'look what you've done, they're gonna do the dirty in your tower now.' see how much that scares him." shuri and ned laughed.

"do we wake them up?" ned asked, a couple of minutes later, raising his phone to show mj and shuri that he still had the jumpscare video up.

"nope. wait a minute." tony had entered the room, with a printed version of the picture that mj had asked friday to take. the teenagers didn't expect tony to have that done as quick as he did. he grabbed a frame from on top of the shelf in the middle of the room. it had a picture of tony after falling asleep on the sofa with rhodey, both of them sprawled across each end, their legs overlapping. he replaced that photo with the picture of harley and peter. "this is the frame where we put embarrassing photos of people sleeping. see how long it takes for the people in the photo to notice. we replace it when we take a new one." tony walked out of the room after placing the frame back onto the shelf. "by the way, they are _not_ 'doing the dirty' in my tower. you can wake them up now." tony added, popping his head around the door frame.

"honey, you've got a big storm coming." shuri muttered, causing ned and mj to laugh. unfortunately, the three teenagers couldn't go ahead with their jumpscare plan, as their laughing woke the two sleeping boys up.

"friday? dim the lights, please." shuri said, once she saw peter open his eyes, and immediately shut them again, covering his face with his hand.

"thanks, shuri." peter murmured, attempting to sit up, and then slumping straight back into harley, who still hadn't moved his hand from peter's waist. "move your hand, i want left over pizza for breakfast before clint eats it all."

"no. can't be bothered to move." harley responded, tightening his hand around peter.

"it was probably more effort to do that."

"it's easy to put in effort for things that i actually want to do, darlin'." harley's eyes were still closed, but he knew peter was blushing, as he felt peter try to cover his face a bit more by putting his face under harley's chin a bit more. "or for _people_ i want to do." harley whispered, so only peter could hear. peter made an indignant squeak, and buried himself further into harley's t-shirt.

"i have no idea what you just said, harley, but considering peter's reaction, that's definitely our cue to leave. by the way, clint already ate the pizza. we're making pancakes. meet you in the kitchen when you stop being cute and shit." mj said, before turning and leaving the room. the others followed suit, leaving harley and peter alone in the living room.

"now can i get food?" peter said, although he didn't really feel like getting up now, his beloved pizza had already been eaten. but he realised that if clint was up, then he could be in the vents, and he could totally see the way that harley and peter were sitting right now. and peter would definitely prefer if tony didn't know (little did he know, tony had already seen). and clint would most definitely tell tony - and probably the rest of the avengers.

"hm, wait a sec, i need to properly wake up." harley removed his arm from around peter, and rubbed his eyes. peter would never admit it, but he was definitely a little disappointed. but how else was he supposed to get up if harley didn't move? anyways, it was only how they fell asleep. it wouldn't happen again. "hold up, if you're spider-man, can't you just, you know, _carry me_ to the kitchen?"

"i mean- i could-" it would be an obvious lie if peter said he totally didn't blush, but he was going to lie to himself anyways.

"great. i can't be bothered to walk."

"oh- okay." peter thought for a moment about how to pick harley up without it seeming too invasive of personal space, before reminding himself of how close they were on the sofa not two minutes ago. in the end, peter just thought _fuck it_ and lifted harley up bridal style. peter walked into the kitchen, expecting the only other people to be in there to be mj, ned, and shuri. really, peter should've known better. he certainly wasn't known for having good luck. of course clint, steve, _and_ bucky would be in the kitchen at the same time.

"oh, peter, i thought you didn't have a boyfriend or girlfriend to take to pride with you?" bucky was the first to see the two boys walk (well, one of them walked. the other one was being carried, and was now very awake upon hearing bucky's voice."

"i don't. harley just wanted to be carried, because apparently he couldn't be bothered to walk. we're not dating." peter said, putting harley down, making sure he was standing up properly before letting him go.

"the picture in the living room says differently." clint smirked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"the- what? what picture?" peter asked, sounding panicked. he hoped clint was just joking around. he hoped that clint wasn't saying what peter thought he was saying.

"tony put a picture in the sleeping people picture frame this morning, it was quite entertaining to find out about that, by the way. why didn't you tell us that existed?" mj spoke up, having finished making a stack of pancakes, and placing it in front of steve, who looked away from harley and peter for a second to say thank you to the girl, before taking a pancake and turning back to face the boys.

"first of all, i didn't think it was important. second of all, what did tony say?" peter asked, now a little bit more calm - but not by much.

"he said, and i quote, ' _by the way, they are_ not _'doing the dirty' in my tower. you can wake them up now.'_ " ned said, laughing.

"technically it's not even his tower. it's his and pepper's. so..." harley formed a sentence for the first time since entering the kitchen. and of course it was something that made peter blush.

"seeming as no one else is going to help peter out, these two have known each other for less than twenty four hours. no, they aren't dating, but god knows what happened after me, mj, and ned fell asleep last night. they were the only ones awake after half two. when we woke up, they were pretty much cuddling, so yeah. mj took a picture and sent it to tony-" shuri was cut off by peter.

"so it was you who gave it to tony. traitor."

"well, you didn't buy me a cake that one time i asked." mj said, like her reasoning for exposing peter and harley was obvious.

"that was months ago!" peter protested.

"yes, and i never did anything to get you back for it." mj smiled with a fake-sweet smile, and turned back to another stack of pancakes - this time for bucky. peter just huffed.

"anyways, buck and i are going to pride and we've only ever watched it from the tower, so can those of you who have been before show us around?" steve asked, taking the attention off peter and harley - who were still in the doorway of the kitchen.

"sure." ned said. "mj and i have only been once, but we'll try not to get lost."

"sounds reassuring." bucky smiled. "oh well, we'll just scare people into telling us where to go."

"or we could just ask them nicely." steve injertected.

"nah, that wouldn't be fun." bucky smiled even wider. steve just rolled his eyes at his boyfriend and went back to eating his pancakes.

"okay kids. eat up. we have to be ready in an hour and a half!" shuri called, handing them each a plate of pancakes. peter and harley walked over to the table and started eating. after the smallest of food fights (they ripped up a pancake and mj, ned, shuri, peter, harley, clint, and bucky were throwing the pieces at each other, before steve told them to stop), the teens were filing out of the kitchen and into peter's room - apart from harley, who went to grab his outfit from the guest room tony had arranged for him. when harley came back into peter's room, they all got dressed, helping each other paint their respective pride flags onto their cheeks using the face paint that peter had brought over from his apartment.

~~~~~

peter had decided on a simple outfit. he was wearing his favourite black ripped skinny jeans (they were only his favourite because they made his ass look good, but he'd never tell anyone that was the reason), a freddie mercury shirt, his bi flag tied around his neck like a cape, and peter had asked harley to paint a bi flag on each of his cheeks.

mj was wearing black jeans, and a white shirt with rainbow strips along the seems. she'd done her hair up in a bun, with bits of hair hanging down the side of her face. she had the lesbian flag tied around her, and shuri had painted the same flag onto her cheeks for her.

ned was wearing blue jeans, a yellow shirt, and had his pan flag hung around his shoulders. he had also gone for the flag on his cheeks - although he'd asked for the lines to be wavy because 'if the lines are straight, they don't represent me, do they?'

shuri was wearing a similar outfit to mj, except she'd gone for a rainbow skull on her shirt instead of the stripes. again, shuri had the lesbian flag hung like a cape around her shoulders, and had gotten mj to paint a flag onto her cheeks.

harley had gone for tight black jeans - because, let's be real, they were the only type of jeans he wore - and black shirt with rainbow flags all over it. he wore his gay flag as a cape - as the others had - and had asked peter to paint on the same flag to his cheeks.

when tony had come in to check on the teenagers, he found them dancing to minecraft parodies and other songs on peter's meme playlist. tony just smiled at the lot, and asked friday to take a photo. he'd frame that and have it hung in peter's room and tony and peter's joint lab.

"alright, kids. it's time to go. i would go with you, but i really have some meetings to attend. steve and bucky will look after you - although i think it's just going to be you looking after them. have fun, don't get mugged. peter, you need to make an appearance as spidey at some point. maybe around midday, when it's busiest? or when it's quieter, if you're more comfortable." tony smiled, and left the room.

"well, i guess it's time we were gay outside." shuri said, opening the door for everyone to leave. there was a smile on everyone's face as they left the tower.

~~~~~

the five teenagers and two super soilders had walked in the parade in between a human rights group and a trans rights group. the teenagers had managed to strike up a conversation with a few people, but no one was sticking around for the pride shows in the evening. they did manage to grab a few people's instagrams, though, so that was one way to keep in touch with some of them. so far, nobody had noticed steve and bucky. they'd gone for the classic cap - except it was rainbow now - and sunglasses.

halfway through the parade, they met up with betty, who immediately gave ned a kiss on the cheek (where there wasn't face paint). she'd been invited to their tower sleepover, but she said that she'd rather actually meet tony stark before sleeping in his living room. which was a fair point, so they'd all arranged to meet her there.

"hey, i kinda feel lonely now. wanna hold hands?" harley whispered to peter. peter looked ahead, noticing that he and harley had fallen behind the two couples they were with.

"that was the cheesiest way of asking that, but sure." peter smiled at harley and grabbed his hand. harley grinned in return. again, peter would be lying if he said that he wasn't blushing. this was becomming a habit. harley would do something somewhat 'not platonic', and peter would hardcore blush. "we should catch up to the others." harley nodded in agreement, and the two sped up.

"oh, peter, you didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!" betty near-shouted when she saw peter and harley holding hands.

"wh- oh, we're not dating." peter replied. "we just felt lonely, what with mj and shuri being together, and you and ned, too."

"this is becomming a reoccurring theme, parker. first, you and harley fall asleep on the sofa together, pretty much cuddling, then you carry him bridal style to the kitchen this morning, and _now_ you're holding hands." bucky said, his voiced laced with sarcasm. this comment caused the rest of the group to laugh.

"don't forget that harley didn't turn down the idea of 'doing the dirty' with peter." mj added. when betty looked confused, mj explained further. "i sent tony a picture of them cuddling and gave him the message _'look what you've done, they're gonna do the dirty in your tower now'._ and tony told me that they would not be doing that. i told that to harley and peter when they got in the kitchen this morning and harley just said something along the lines of _'it's technically not just his tower, so...'_ "

"not to mention, harley called peter ' _darlin'_ ' earlier." ned added.

"to be fair, we did only meet, like... sixteen hours ago or something." harley argued for his and peter's side.

"leave them alone, guys. they'll date in their own time." steve smirked.

"steve! i thought you were on our side!" peter - however hard he tried not to - started laughing. and then everyone else did. peter's laugh was infectious.

~~~~~

when it reached midday, peter ran off with a 'see you guys in a minute', before running into a back alley, hidden from all the stalls and parade, and quickly put on his suit. he made sure that his pride flag was tied securely around his neck before swinging back towards the parade. he'd left his bag with his friends, so there was no risk of it being stolen from a random alleyway.

tony had told him just to swing above the parade, and make sure that there wasn't anybody being attacked on any side streets that the police department couldn't see and / or get to. luckily, there didn't seem to be any of that going on, according to karen. peter just swung around, taking pictures with people who asked.

this lasted for around an hour and a half before peter had got around to every stall and taken pictures. he didn't want to spend too much time as spider-man. he was at pride as peter parker, not spider-man. even tony had told him that. peter swung back into the alley that he got changed in, and put his civilian clothes back on. luckily, they hadn't got too dirty inside the box peter had found at the back of the alley.

~~~~~

"okay, i'm back. anything happen while i was gone?" peter asked, once he found his friends, who had now found a quiet place in a small park near to the stalls.

"we got some free stuff for you. we also signed all of us up to a thing which is, like, a massive gay gathering." harley said, handing him the said free stuff. once he saw peter's confused expression, harley explained further. "basically, there are days out for gay kids. apparently the first one is to stark tower, which will be funny as hell. it's next week." peter laughed at that.

"i'd love to go to that, to be honest." peter replied.

"good, because we're all going." mj grinned.

peter sat back, looking at his friends (and avengers). steve and bucky were sitting against a tree not too far away from the teenagers. upon asking harley why they were over there, harley had said that the two supersoldiers _'didn't want a headache'_. fair enough. mj and shuri were sitting close together, mj's head on shuri's shoulder, talking quietly about who knows what. ned and betty were being _that_ cheesy couple, and kept showing each other memes every now and again.

and peter had to admit, he did feel a little lonely. but it was okay, because seeing his friends happy was what made peter happy. however cheesy that sounded.

"what're you thinking about?" harley said, shuffling closer to peter, so that their legs were nearly touching.

"first, that i really am lonely. but also just that this is so peaceful. this is probably one of the best days i've had in a while. i don't really get that much peace, being spider-man and all. tony says i over-work myself. and i see where he's coming from, but he's a bit of a hypocrite." peter laughed, and so did harley.

"i mean, i can change the lonely part if you want me to, sweetheart." harley winked, and this sent peter into another wave of laughing, even if there was a slight blush gracing his cheeks.

"i wouldn't mind." peter replied, grinning at harley. he had no idea where this slightly confident side of him came from, but neither boy was going to complain about it.

harley hummed in response before putting his arm around peter and kissing the top of his head. peter blushed once again, but leant into harley nonetheless. 


	2. day two: jealousy

it all started when people started to realise that peter's stark internship wasn't fake. boys and girls alike had suddenly ' _liked peter for years, just never built up the courage to ask_ '. granted, harley hadn't had a crush on peter for years either, but at least he didn't like peter just because he knew tony stark. that would be a pointless reason to like peter - harley knew tony just as well. but, you see, the amount of people who would either ask peter out or just flirt with him everyday would increase as each day passed. and harley would be lying if he didn't say it had started to bother him.

ever since harley met peter, he'd known that he had feelings for the boy. at first, it was because peter was beautiful. then, as harley got to know him, he realised that peter's personality was just as amazing. and harley couldn't help but to fall deeper and deeper for the boy. but suddenly, all of these people were asking peter out, and although peter had rejected every single one of them, and had voiced to harley that he wouldn't be saying yes to any of them, harley was still jealous of these people. imagine having enough courage to ask peter parker out. harley had to hand it to them.

now, harley would always flirt with peter. just lowkey. nicknames and complimenting his appearance. things like that. they always made peter blush. but these people were saying almost the same things to peter now, and the only reaction they were getting out of peter was a slight eye roll and a ' _no, sorry, i don't like you in that way_ '. it sounded like a childish way to respond, but they wouldn't go away unless peter told them outright. none of these people could take a hint. harley just thought he was more confident because he wasn't alone at school. maybe peter only blushed because he was uncomfortable when harley flirted with him, and couldn't be confident because they were alone.

of course it wasn't that. but harley couldn't see that peter reacted differently to harley because he actually had feelings for harley. because harley didn't like peter just because he knew tony stark. harley was smart, but he could be a dumbass sometimes. and peter wished he wouldn't be. harley was definitely the more confident of the two, and peter was terrible at making the first move on anyone he liked. everyone at the tower knew that peter liked harley, and harley liked peter, except for harley.

you see, peter wasn't as oblivious as everyone made him out to be. of course, it took tony to lay it all out for peter in order for peter to see that harley liked him, but at least he accepted it. harley just saw it as peter being polite and going along with harley's lowkey flirting because he didn't want to be rude. so why did peter turn down everyone at school as soon as he flirted with them, but wouldn't tell harley to stop? as stated previously, harley could be a bit of a dumbass sometimes.

harley had accepted that he was jealous, even though peter hadn't actually accepted anyone yet. the thing is, peter had also realised that harley was jealous (of course, it was after mj brought it to his attention), and he was stuck on whether to carry on rejecting people and leave harley to work it out himself, or to flirt back with someone (just to see harley get worked up), or to just straight-up ask harley out. everyone knew that the last option wasn't happening. and peter was too polite to lead people on by flirting back. so carrying on as he currently was seemed to be his only option.

but peter was tired of the flirting from people who wanted to use him. they really thought that he wouldn't see through their act. so, peter decided to complain about it to harley so much that the latter decided to ask questions. and then peter could try and hint at the fact he was only going to reject everyone except harley. that harley was the only person he liked, and the only person he would date. god, if even tony had noticed, harley had to be so goddamn oblivious. to be honest, peter wasn't completely surprised. but peter thought it was extraordinary just _how_ oblivious harley apparently was.

"i'm so god damn tired of all these people. when will they stop?" peter complained, while him and harley were sitting in their joint lab, upgrading peter's web-shooters.

"when you accept someone." harley pretty much deadpanned the conversation.

"but i don't want to accept any of them, harls."

"why not?" harley put his tools down on the desk a tad bit harder than he'd planned to, making peter jump. "you want the whole ordeal to be over, but you don't accept anyone. if you accepted someone, people would probably stop flirting as much as they are."

"yes, you're right." peter started, placing his tools on the desk too - just lighter than harley had. "but the person i want to ask me just hasn't asked yet. i'm not going to accept someone that will use me, or someone that i don't like in return - not that the people asking me out actually like me. they just like tony."

"how can they not have? literally everyone has asked you out. whoever the hell you like must have done."

"but he hasn't."

"so it's a he?"

"that's what i just said, didn't i?"

"yes." harley picked his tools back up, and started to work on the web-shooters aggressively. peter grabbed his hands.

"stop. you'll hurt yourself or you'll break the web-shooters. and then you'll feel guilty. why are you so angry?" peter asked, a concerned expression plastered all over his face.

"doesn't matter." harley snapped. harley saw a slightly pained look flash over peter's face. "sorry, darlin'. didn't mean to snap. just... things on my mind." harley put his tools down again and sat down, and put his head in his hands. "god. i've worked myself up, haven't i?"

"yeah. you have. wanna talk about it?" peter sat down opposite harley, and brought his chair closer, so that his knees were touching harley's.

"not really. but i guess you're gonna make me?"

"i'm not gonna make you say anything, but i am gonna make you get all of your emotions out. say what you want to say."

"fuck it." harley whispered, before removing his hands from his face. peter saw the tears welling up in harley's eyes, and automatically wiped away one that had fallen down his cheek. "peter- i- i just _can't_ deal with this anymore. you're asked out every single fucking day and i have to stand there and watch. i have to stand there and watch the person i want to hold and kiss and love be asked out by people who just want to _use_ him. i don't want you to be used, sweetheart. no matter who you date. even if i can't have you, i want you to be treated right. and one day, i think you're gonna say yes because you genuinely like someone, and they won't care about you, and you'll grow to love them, and they'll just break you. and i don't wanna watch that happen. darlin', i _can't_ watch that happen."

by this point, harley had a couple of tears falling down his face. he couldn't help it. he hated that he couldn't stop them. it was built up anger and sadness and now it was all coming out.

"harls, when i said that the person i wanted to ask me out hadn't yet, i was talking about you. because i want to hold you and kiss you and love you too. and i know you wouldn't use me, because you're one of the sweetest people i've had the opportunity of knowing."

"why didn't you tell me?" harley sounded broken, his voice was cracking every few words, and it took all of peter's will to not pick him up, lift him to the sofa, and cuddle him until he stopped. but he knew that harley needed to talk about these things - even if he didn't want to. harley wasn't good with emotions. tony had told peter that before he'd introduced both boys to each other.

"because even though i knew how you felt, i couldn't bring myself to make the first move. i'm sorry, harls. i didn't really realise how you felt about these people until a couple of days ago. and even then, i didn't think you were taking it as personal as you are. i thought you knew that i liked you. i thought tony had told you."

"he did. i didn't believe him."

"how? it was obvious."

"not to me."

"harley, every single compliment you give me makes me go all warm inside. and i know that shows on my face."

"to be honest, i thought it was because you struggled to reject me when you weren't in a public atmosphere."

"well, now you know that i would never reject you if you flirted with me. or asked me out, for that matter."

"what are you suggesting, parker?" ah, there was the sarcastic harley that peter knew. peter grinned.

"that you should totally ask me out."

"well then, i'll do just that. tomorrow. in school. right in front of everyone else. and then i'm gonna kiss you. that sound good?"

"i- i have to wait that long?" peter was blushing again, his confident act dropping a little.

"mhm. i've gotta do the dramatic gestures, and all that, darlin'"

"i guess you do."

~~~~~

and that's exactly what harley did. the first person to flirt with peter was flash. which was new. most of the people who would flirt with peter would do it time and time again, hoping that he would say yes if they kept going at it. however, flash had never even glanced at peter. harley almost laughed at peter's expression when flash came up to peter that morning.

"hey, parker. looking good." flash gave peter a once-over, as if he was checking peter out. peter looked surprised at first, and then almost disgusted - but peter managed to cover that up as soon as flash looked back up at his face.

"yeah, he is, isn't he?" harley spoke up before peter had the chance to respond. by now, the small group of three had attracted the attention of all the other students in the hallway. harley could see mj and ned out of the corner of his eye, and he was pretty sure that mj was recording the whole ordeal, but he couldn't be sure. a few students had also got their phones out, but they were texting.

of course, nearly everyone had tried to date peter, but never flash. yesterday, flash had still been insulting peter at almost every opportunity he had. but today, he was flirting with peter. and instead of standing on the sidelines like he usually did, harley was joining in. you see, everyone had realised that harley had feelings for peter, but they were too determined to get to peter that they hadn't realised that peter reciprocated those feelings. however, no one ever saw harley as a threat, because they knew that he wouldn't tell peter. but, as it turns out, they were wrong.

"can't you see that peter and i are having a conversation, which doesn't involve you?" flash retorted. harley just laughed. "aren't we?" flash turned to peter.

"i mean, i technically didn't respond, so it wasn't really a conversation..." peter trailed off as he saw flash's expression turn angry. and then he continued, a small burst of confidence coming through. "and, uh, harley and i were having a conversation before you got here, so you interrupted our conversation."

"but i'm clearly the more interesting person here, so you should go out with me." flash retorted.

"hold up, no one said anything about peter going out with anyone." mj had come over now, her phone still recording, but placed in a pocket on her t-shirt. 

"and no one said anything about you interrupting this." flash shot back.

"eh, that was a good one. but i think you'll find that peter is definitely not interested in you." mj shrugged and walked back to where she originally was.

"was she right, parker?"

"i- yes. she was. when is she not?" peter replied, smiling. thank god for mj.

"well, if you're not interested in me, who the hell would you be interested in?"

"someone who isn't just in it for benefits from tony stark." peter deadpanned.

"who would even look at you if you didn't know him? you're not really anything to look at."

"first of all, me. i would look at peter all day. second of all, that's not what you were saying two minutes ago." harley butted in before peter could reply. flash just huffed, and walked over to his group of friends. harley watched him leave before turning towards peter. "so, darlin', wanna be my boyfriend?"

"definitely." peter grinned, and harley gave him one in return before holding peter's chin, and kissing him. it was only a second or two long, considering that people were still filming, and neither harley or peter enjoyed the attention too much.

~~~~~

it was lunch time before harley, peter, mj, ned, and betty had managed to get time to themselves. and of course, they wanted to talk about the events that happened that morning.

"so, kenner. finally get your head out of your ass?" mj smirked, speaking up first.

"well, yeah. i had a bit of a breakdown last night, and peter managed to get me to see the obvious." harley smiled, glancing over to peter.

"good. now we don't have to witness the constant pining between the two of you." mj smiled at the two boys as they both blushed slightly.

and mj could tell that they were perfect for each other. 


	3. day three: baking

saturday was supposed to be peter's lie-in day. but that wasn't allowed to happen, was it? peter was woken up by his phone playing ac/dc, which meant that tony was calling him. what did he want this early in the morning? and even though peter really wanted to leave the call ringing until it shut off, peter decided that it was best to pick it up. it could be important, and peter really couldn't miss that. and however bad it sounded, peter really didn't want to be a superhero until that afternoon - after he'd woken up. 

"mr stark? what's up?" peter picked up the phone, trying to sound as happy as a teenager could after they'd been woken up at eight in the morning on a saturday.

"hey, kid. sorry to wake you up." tony replied, not sounding the slightest bit sorry. "but it's pepper's birthday tomorrow, and i want to bake her something. but, you see, i can't cook anything but pasta and bucky refuses to do it because, and i quote, ' _it's not my job to bake for your wife_ '. and i really could do with some help over here. i would ask harley to do it, seeming as he's awake, but i don't trust him in the kitchen on his own. i mean, i don't trust either of you to be in there on your own, so i'm gonna make you do it together. bonding time, and all that."

"i mean, bucky's right, but i'll do it. i'll be over there in an hour." peter said, walking over to his closet. tony gave a swift reply of ' _bye, pete._ ' and hung up. peter sighed. little did tony know, peter and harley had already had lots of 'bonding time', but peter decided that tony should stay none the wiser.

~~~~~

peter arrived at the tower on pretty much an hour later on the dot. he smiled, knowing that for once in his life, he was on time to something. may hadn't been too happy that peter had to leave the apartment so early to go to the tower on a saturday, but once she found out that it wasn't for superhero business, and that he was going to be spending time with harley, she seemed to be okay with it. even though tony didn't know that his two proteges were dating, may had worked it out as soon as she saw the two boys interact once. either may was good at spotting things like that, or tony was completely oblivious. but let's be real, it was probably the latter of the two.

"hey, friday. penthouse, please." peter said, as soon as he entered the elevator. 

"of course, peter." friday responded, and the elevator started moving upwards. it only took peter a minute to get to the top of the tower, and when he did, he saw harley leaning against the wall opposite the elevator doors.

"hey, darlin'. i tried telling the old man that you shouldn't be woken up and that i'll do it, but he wasn't having any of it." harley said, putting his arm around peter's shoulders as the two walked to the kitchen. "i mean, i'm not complaining that i get to see you earlier than usual, but you need sleep too."

"eh, it's okay. at least i'll be doing something productive today." peter replied. the two boys walked in a comfortable silence until they reached the kitchen. once they got in there, they realised that clint, nat, and rhodey were still eating breakfast, and tony was drinking what was probably his third cup of coffee that morning. harley removed his arm from around peter's shoulders. the two had decided to see how long they could keep their relationship from tony. originally, they were trying to see how long it would take the whole team to find out, but they'd all worked it out within the first week. but now they'd been together for nearly six months, and tony still hadn't realised.

"oh, you're on time, i'm surprised." tony said, looking at peter.

"well, it was for something important." peter shrugged.

"what, so when i asked you to get to the tower to work on my suit, it wasn't important?"

"well, technically yes, it was important, but you know, may didn't want me to leave. she said that saturdays are my relaxing days."

"but she let you today?"

"i'm baking something and spending time with harley, that's not working." 

"so she prefers harley over me as well now, does she?"

"she prefers almost everyone over you." peter laughed, and so did the rest of the people in the kitchen - apart from tony, who just rolled his eyes and left the room, announcing to everyone that he was going to the lab to work on whatever needed doing.

~~~~~

eventually, everyone who had been eating breakfast had cleared the room, and harley and peter started getting everything they needed ready. they had decided to make salted caramel brownies, as harley remembered that pepper always went for the caramel options in a chocolate box, and made sure that nobody got to them before she did. not that anyone would dare take them from her in the first place.

"friday, put on mine and peter's spotify playlist." harley said, getting the recipe up on his phone. within a few seconds, superhero by lauv started playing through the speakers. harley smiled and he started singing along, reading out the ingredients in between lines. peter ran around the kitchen (still singing), grabbing everything they needed, and harley measured it all out. the penthouse kitchen was always stacked up with baking things, due to bucky cooking all the time.

**(for those of you who want to know, the ingredients are:  
\- 200g unsalted butter, plus a little extra for greasing  
\- 100g chocolate, 70% cocoa solids  
\- 100g chocolate, 50% cocoa solids  
\- 397g can carnation caramel  
\- 1 tsp flaky sea salt, plus a little extra for the top  
\- 200g golden caster sugar  
\- 4 medium eggs, at room temperature  
\- 130g plain flour  
\- 50g cocoa powder)**

the song switched to rewrite the stars as peter got out the sea salt, and this time, he was the one singing along. the two had put this playlist together within the first couple of months of dating, so that they could get used to each other's music taste, while still listening to their own. it was a good way of doing it, and any songs that either of them hated were removed, and new ones were often added. altogether, it worked well.

once all the ingredients had been measured out, peter and harley started to prepare the brownies. according to the recipe, the preparation should only take twenty minutes, and the actual cooking would take half an hour. but knowing the boys, the prep would take a lot longer than expected. the song switched to all night by the vamps, and both boys sang along this time.

**1\. heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.**

"uh, harls, i have no idea how to use an oven." peter said, causing to harley to laugh. "i mean, i know how to take stuff in and out, but i have no idea how to know what temperature it's on."

"you start doing the next step, darlin'. i'll do this for you." harley replied.

"i knew tony made us do this together for a reason." this caused harley to laugh once again.

**2\. grease then line a 23cm square with baking parchment.**

peter managed to do that with no trouble at all. he'd baked a few times with may - although it always seemed to go wrong. peter would never say it to her face, but peter knew that may guessing the mass of the ingredients was never a good idea. may's reasoning was simply ' _it's quicker this way_ '. fair enough, who would argue with may?

**3\. melt 200g unsalted butter in a medium pan, break in 100g chocolate (70% cocoa solids) and 100g chocolate (50% cocoa solids), then remove the pan from the heat and wait for the cubes to melt.**

so the boys did that. harley got a little distracted halfway through, as viva la vida by coldplay started playing. it was one of his favourite songs, and always his go-to karaoke song, so peter was left to break up the chocolate on his own, laughing at harley's antics. it was surprising, but so far, nothing had gone wrong, and both of them hoped that it would continue on like that. of course, it never could with these two.

**4\. in a small bowl, mix 175g carnation caramel from a 397g can with 1 tsp sea salt – it will loosen up.**

peter had decided to let harley finish his little singing session, but not before he'd asked friday to record the whole ordeal. in the end, he just asked friday to record them baking but to ' _never show tony, please_ '. and the ai agreed to that.

however, the small break that peter had given harley didn't end when the song ended. because the shuffle decided to play moves like jagger - and if you don't at least feel like singing dramatically to that, you're not human. and of course, harley sang adam levine's part, and peter was stuck with christina aguilera's part. the two were laughing uncontrollably by the end of the song, and harley gave peter a quick kiss before continuing with the fourth step of the recipe. luckily, the next song playing was if you want love by nf, so there was no need for dramatic renditions. 

**5\. put the rest of the caramel in a large bowl with 200g golden caster sugar and 4 medium eggs, and beat with an electric hand mixer or balloon whisk until even. whisk in the chocolate and butter.**

and they didn't get far with that before party in the usa started playing. another song when a dramatic rendition was one hundred percent necessary. you see, the prep for this was definitely going to take longer than twenty minutes. especially when clint dropped from the vents halfway through the song and asked for them to start it again. the three of them danced and sang completely off tune. but it was fun, and once again, they were laughing too hard to form sentences by the end. and peter had never been more grateful for the fact that friday could record everything when asked to.

once the song had switched to send my love by adele, and he had stopped laughing, peter went back to the kitchen counter and continued doing what the recipe was telling him to do. harley was helping clint back into the vents, telling him to ' _make sure tony doesn't see you, he'll have your head, and i want more dance parties_ '. peter smiled, and carried on humming along to the song.

**6\. in another bowl, combine 130g plain flour, 50g cocoa powder and a good pinch of table salt, then sift this on top of the chocolate mix. beat briefly until smooth.**

the song changed to hey there delilah, and harley wrapped his hands around peter's waist, humming along and kissing peter's neck every now and again. it was a cute moment to witness. peter decided that he would send the video that friday was currently taking to himself, and he would screenshot this moment, and he'd definitely get may to print it out and frame it for him.

the only problem was that peter really needed to move on to the next step, and harley wasn't going to move until the song was over. not that peter was complaining.

**7\. pour half the brownie batter into the tin and level it with a spatula.**

as the song there's no way by lauv and julia michaels started, the two boys shared a look, and silently decided that they wouldn't be baking during this one either. harley wrapped his hands around peter's waist, and peter placed his hands around harley's neck. now, this song wasn't necessarily a slow song, but both of them liked to pretend that it was. this was another thing that peter was going to take a picture of and frame.

harley had used the lyrics from this song to confess his feelings to peter - but peter hadn't known that until harley added it to their playlist, and peter listened to it for the first time. peter had called harley, laughing down the phone, telling him that he'd thought that the words harley had used were poetic, but he hadn't realised that it was an actual song. harley had just laughed along, telling peter that he thought it was a cute song. peter had agreed. 

after that, centuries by fall out boy started to play, and although both boys sang along, they actually got some stuff done. peter told harley if he thought a bit was uneven, and then harley would even it out. it only took a couple of minutes until both of them were happy with how it looked. to be honest, they were both surprised that it hadn't taken them longer - considering that they were both perfectionists.

**8\. using a teaspoon, spoon half of the salted caramel on top of the batter layer in 5 thick, evenly spaced stripes.**

"hold on, i'm gonna get a ruler." harley announced, turning to leave the room.

"you- really?" peter almost laughed.

"you would do the same if you were doing this alone." harley said, actually leaving the room now. peter felt called out, because he knew harley was right. he'd want it to be perfect for pepper, so he'd definitely use a ruler to measure it out.

when harley came back, royals by lorde was playing, and harley told friday to start it again. he wouldn't admit it to anyone but peter, but he actually loved this song. so, he sung along as he held the ruler against the tray, letting peter do the math and put the caramel on the brownies.

**9\. spoon the rest of the brownie batter on top and smooth it out, trying not to disturb the caramel beneath. top with the rest of the caramel in the same stripy fashion. drag a skewer or tip of a knife through the caramel to make a feathered pattern on the top.**

as peter finished of the previous step, sucker by the jonas brothers started to play. as peter started to sing along (loudly), harley laughed at his antics and decided that it was his turn to actually do something. although, he did realise that he'll have to ask peter to put the caramel on again. so he waited for the song to end, watching his boyfriend sing. he smiled lovingly at the other boy. and however much they denied it, they really could be _that couple_ sometimes.

"hey, darlin'. can you put the caramel on the second layer?" harley asked, as the song switched to broken by lovelytheband. peter nodded, and walked back over to the counter. peter was singing along whilst doing it, and harley had to remind him to stop, otherwise the lines weren't going to be straight.

"you're not straight." peter shot back - even though it didn't make any sense. harley laughed, trying to keep the ruler as still as possible. "okay, we've just gotta put sea salt on the top, and then put the tray in the oven, and then we're done." peter said, as he finished putting the last bit of caramel onto the mix.

**10\. scatter with a little more sea salt, then bake for 25-30 mins or until risen all the way to the middle with a firm crust on top. when ready, the brownie will jiggle just a little when you shake the tin.**

"jiggle." peter pretty much giggled.

"it's not _that_ funny." harley commented, even though he was trying to hide a smirk.

"it is." peter scattered some sea salt onto the tray and put the brownies into the oven. "can you set the timer? again, that's something i have no idea how to do."

"sure, sweetheart." harley set the timer to twenty five minutes before leaning back onto the island in the middle of the room. peter then thought that this would be the perfect opportunity to have a makeout session - not that harley was complaining. harley started kissing down peter's neck, making sure to leave a few marks (even though they'd be gone by the time that the brownies were finished, due to peter's super-healing). harley kept doing what he was doing until peter let out a small moan, immediately blushing and burrying his head into harley's shoulder afterwards. harley just laughed, lifting peter's head up and kissing him once more, before just hugging the boy. however much they were enjoying that, they couldn't continue that in the communal kitchen. anyone could walk in, and neither of them wanted that.

"i am _never_ crawling through the vents when you guys are together again." clint made a sudden appearance again. "i just wanted to see if there was another opportunity to have a sing-a-long, but instead i had to see _and_ hear that."

"i mean, what else are we supposed to do while the brownies are in the oven?" harley asked, still holding peter. 

"i don't know, maybe... taking it somewhere else?"

"then we wouldn't hear the timer go off." peter joined in with the conversation. clint just grimaced before jumping back into the vents. both boys laughed, although peter was slightly embarrassed about clint hearing _that_.

**11\. let it cool completely in the tin, then cut into squares.**

once they'd let the brownies cool, and harley had cut them, the boys put them into a decorated box and kept them in a cupboard that they knew pepper would never go to (it was known as 'bucky's baking cupboard', and anything that bucky had made went in there. bucky rarely allowed anyone to go in there, although he'd given peter and harley permission to put their finished brownies in there).


	4. day four: first kiss

when tony had introduced peter and harley to each other, he thought that he'd prepared himself for all the possibilities. of course, tony had wanted them to be friends, but if they hated each other, tony could work with that. he'd just make sure that he never had them working for long periods of time in the lab together. and if they both wanted to be in the lab, he'd make sure their stations were on opposite sides. tony didn't really want fights in the lab. but he hadn't prepared himself for the amount of sexual tension that filled the room as soon as the two were within a few meters of each other. it was almost unbearable, and let's just say that tony started to take breaks a lot more frequently.

at first, pepper was surprised that tony had left the lab himself, rather than kick peter and / or harley out. tony had just told pepper that he ' _wanted them to sort it out, i can't deal with it anymore_ '. pepper had just laughed at her husband's distress, because of course pepper had seen this coming from a mile away. what else would happen if you introduced two good-looking teenagers to each other? however, once the tension was becomming noticeable during meals and movie nights, pepper could see where tony was coming from. she was surprised neither of them had snapped and just said something, but a part of her was happy that tony was taking breaks more often.

"why don't you just make them have separate lab times?" rhodey suggested, after tony had finished complaining about it. "then you wouldn't have to deal with it. although, that doesn't solve the whole 'family time' problem." and obviously, tony took rhodey's advice, because at this point, tony would do anything to get his lab back from two hormonal, pining teenagers. but that didn't really go to plan. because peter would always 'conveniently' come up with a new idea to add to his suit or webshooters when it was harley's lab time with tony. or harley would decide that he wanted to lounge around in the lab when it was peter's lab time. and tony would have to go and take a break.

however, one day when tony had left the boys to their own devices, harley couldn't take it anymore. peter was sitting in his chair, head leaned back, and a look of frustration on his face. harley noticed that peter's eyes were closed, meaning that peter wouldn't see if harley were to quickly walk the width of the lab, give the former a quick kiss on the cheek, and then walk back to other side of the room, all within the time it took peter to realise and open his eyes.

you see, harley had worked out that peter's spider-sense (or 'peter-tingle', as many of the avengers had now dubbed it) didn't really work in the tower. once, harley had tried to make peter jump by creeping up behind him and suddenly putting his hands on peter's shoulders. to be honest, he had expected it not to work. but peter had ended up jumping three feet in the air, looking completely startled (almost looking like a lost puppy in harley's eyes). harley had laughed, and after a few seconds, so had peter. that was one of the times when tony didn't feel like he had to leave the lab.

so knowing that piece of information, harley decided that going ahead with the plan to give peter a cheek-peck. he wasn't stupid, and even he could feel the tension between the two of them, and he knew that peter could feel it too. and even if harley had got it all wrong, it was only a kiss on the cheek in the end, and the aftermath wouldn't be too awkward. but harley hoped that he hadn't got it wrong, and the result of what he was about to do would be good. as in, the only reason that tony would need to leave the room now would be because there was too much pda. or they were being too flirty or cheesy for tony to handle. but harley didn't get his hopes up too high.

harley quickly walked across the room, ending up on the left side of peter. he hesitated for a second, before realising that if he was there for too long, peter would definitely notice him and having to explain why he was over there - instead of being at his own desk - would be more awkward than actually doing it. so harley went ahead with it. he kissed peter's cheek very lightly - barely noticeable to the latter, but still enough to make his eyes shoot open - and harley darted back over to his work space, acting as if nothing had happened.

by the time that peter had registered exactly _what_ had made him jump so suddenly, harley had already picked up a screwdriver and back working on the improvements to bucky's arm that tony was supposed to be doing with him. harley could see that peter was blushing out of the corner of his eye, but he didn't acknowledge it - he was waiting for peter to say something. however, peter never got the chance to open his mouth before tony walked back into the room.

"right, i'm back. how are you doing?" tony hadn't looked up from whatever notes he was reading yet, but when he did a few moments later (due to a lack of response from the boys), he didn't want to know what had happened while he was gone. all he saw was a blushing peter, looking at harley incredulously, and harley was just smirking while working on bucky's arm. "nevermind, i am suddenly _not_ back." and with that, tony let the lab once again.

"you- did you just-?" peter started, still looking at harley with a look of disbelief.

"i did. you don't have a problem with that, do you, darlin'?" although harley sounded almost cocky within his reply, he still had to make sure that peter was okay with him just deciding to do that. peter's cheeks went a little redder as soon as harley said the nickname, and it took him a moment to reply.

"no- no problem at all." peter smiled, not managing to maintain eye contact with harley.

"that's good to hear." harley decided that he'd made the first move, so peter could make the second. and of course, just as peter was going to say something more, tony came back in.

"apparently, i've been annoying pepper too much, so she said i've gotta deal with you two being..." tony waved his hand vaguely in the teenagers' direction. "gay or whatever. let me just get some earplugs and get to the other side of the lab, and you can carry on." and tony did just that. both peter and harley followed tony with their eyes, until he had started to work on some improvements for his jets.

"honestly, why didn't you do that sooner?" peter asked, once tony had completely stopped paying attention to the teenagers in his lab.

"shouldn't i be asking you the same question?" harley quipped, a smirk still present on his face. peter just sighed.

"you're the more confident one."

"it's not as if it wasn't completely obvious that i've wanted to kiss you since the minute i saw you."

"you did?"

"you couldn't tell?"

"no. i'm completely oblivious."

"you can't tell me you didn't know that i like you. you had to have worked that one out."

"yeah, i'm not _that_ oblivious."

"hm. wanna be my boyfriend?"

"sure."

the two boys smiled at each other, their cheeks slightly pink after that conversation. peter stood up, wrapping his arms around harley. harley pulled peter further into the hug, and lightly kissed his forehead. peter then looked up at harley, before glancing his eyes down at the older boy's lips.

and harley took the hint, attaching his lips to peter's. of course, the kiss was awkward and clumsy - neither of them had ever kissed anyone before - but to the two of them, it was a perfect moment.

then they heard a small gasp from across the room, and they remembered where they were.

"oh fuck, my eyes."

harley and peter looked at each other before dissolving into laughter. 


	5. day five: secret confessions

it all started on monday, when peter opened up his locker to grab the books he needed for the first three periods of his day. a piece of paper - with a typed message - had fallen out, and peter had grabbed it as quick as possible. at first, peter had thought it must have been a note that he wrote to himself, reminding him about some homework he had to do, and he'd forgotten that he'd written it. but after closer inspection, peter realised that this sheet of paper had absolutely nothing to do with school work.

_you looked cute last friday. i mean, you always look beautiful, but friday's outfit was just... woah. and you should 100% keep your hair curly more often. i'd love to run my fingers through it - and not even in a dirty way._

peter blushed after reading it. he still got surprised when any of his friends complimented him, so when he found out that he had a 'secret admirer', or something along those lines, it took him a while to process it. who would like him? peter parker? the message was typed, it's not as if he could work out who it was through the handwriting. in the end, peter decided to keep it to himself, in case it was some sick joke played on him by brad - peter didn't think that flash would sink _that_ low.

~~~~~

peter found another note in the same place after lunch, when he was collecting his chemistry textbooks. he wasn't expecting another one. either this person genuinely liked peter, or someone was intent on carrying on with this prank. peter still hadn't mentioned it to ned, mj, harley, or betty over lunch. and he wasn't sure if he even wanted to.

_i saw you while you were reading the note i gave you this morning. i was unsure whether to give it to you - cheesy gestures aren't my usual thing, you know? but i know you like them. and i'm too much of a coward to talk to you in person, so i settled for this. i suppose your blush after reading it was satisfactory enough for me. so now i'm going to keep doing them._

this note made peter blush again, a small smile on his face. if peter were to tell any of his friends, it would probably be mj - seeming as she was the best at keeping things from other people, and she was always the best at giving advice. if he told ned or betty, everyone would know by this evening. don't get him wrong, peter loved his friends, but those two just couldn't keep a secret. if peter were to tell harley, he'd joke about it, and tony would definitely find out, and would tease peter about it. so peter settled for telling mj if this carried on.

~~~~~

and it did carry on. peter found a note in his locker once again that afternoon, when he was putting his things from his previous classes away and taking any books home that he needed for his homework. this one was shorter, but it still had the same effect on peter as the other two did.

_you always have this cute little expression on your face when you're concentrating._

peter put all three notes from that day into an empty section in his folder, deciding to keep them. he didn't know who was writing these, and in some way, it was a good thing, because peter only had eyes for one person. if this mystery person wasn't that specific boy, he'd have to reject them, and he hoped he wouldn't have to do that any time soon. besides, peter tells himself, this is probably a joke. no one would do this willingly, would they?

~~~~~

the notes carry on for the rest of the week. three notes a day, all five days of that week. peter decided to tell mj, so he'd invited her over to his and may's apartment that evening. peter had also invited harley, ned, and betty, but he made sure that they arrived an hour after mj. of course he hadn't told them that mj would be there earlier. a part of peter felt mean - leaving his friends out - but he wanted some rational advice, and mj would give him just that.

"okay, so what do they say?" mj said, sitting opposite peter. the boy went to hand her the notes, before she stopped him. "read them out loud to me. it's easier for me to tell if they sound genuine. don't give me that look, parker. it might not make sense to you, but do you want my advice or not?" peter just nodded, deciding against arguing mj - which was probably the best decision.

"okay, so the first one says: ' _you looked cute last friday. i mean, you always look beautiful, but friday's outfit was just... woah. and you should 100% keep your hair curly more often. i'd love to run my fingers through it - and not even in a dirty way_.'" peter looked up at mj after he finished.

"cheesy, but sounds legit. next one?" the girl replied straight away.

"uh, second one: _'i saw you while you were reading the note i gave you this morning. i was unsure whether to give it to you - cheesy gestures aren't my usual thing, you know? but i know you like them. and i'm too much of a coward to talk to you in person, so i settled for this. i suppose your blush after reading it was satisfactory enough for me. so now i'm going to keep doing them_.'"

"okay, so they're obviously watching you, seeing if you found the note. this means that they were most likely waiting for your reaction. if it was a joke, i doubt they'd stand there very long. and you're nearly almost late. so yeah, i'm starting to think that this is more likely to be someone who has feelings for you. also, they're clearly writing these throughout the day, and if this was some sort of prank, they'd probably have them all pre-written at home. or they'd be handwritten while the person was bored in class. whoever's writing these has definitely put in effort. next one."

"this one's really short. ' _you always have this cute little expression on your face when you're concentrating_.'"

"okay, so now this is showing that they actually pay attention to you. if it's any reassurance to you, this isn't something flash would do. also, flash doesn't have it in him to keep this sort of thing quiet for an entire week. so if this was a joke, it would probably be brad - let's be real. and he's not exactly got a massive reputation. at least, not as big as flash's. so you probably wouldn't be humiliated. still, it's funny to think about brad staring at you and trying to work out sappy things to write on a fake love note." mj smirked, seeing peter's look of disgust.

"ew. not helping."

"sorry. carry on."

and it went on like that, peter reading out the notes, and mj giving her opinion on it. there were a few that made mj consider the whole thing as a joke. but only one or two out of the fifteen that peter had received. she was trying to work out who peter's 'secret admirer' could be, and - although she wouldn't admit it to anyone - she had no clue. she couldn't even pinpoint a few people. the notes were so vague that it was unclear whether or not peter knew this person well. until the last note.

"this one's a little less, uh, pg?" peter started. mj just nodded, telling him to hurry up and read it. "' _every time we hang out, i have to resist the urge to kiss you. it's stupid - i really should try and have some self contol. and not to be horny, but when you laugh and your head goes back... you don't have the right to leave your neck all exposed like that_." peter was hardcore blushing and his voice had been to reduced to a whisper by the time he'd finished reading that note.

and mj knew exactly who was behind these notes, just from that final one.

"why are you looking at me like that?"

"those notes are definitely not a joke, parker."

"you know who it is, don't you?"

"yep!"

"and you're not going to tell me?"

"nope! work it out for yourself. the last note is a dead giveaway."

"at least give me a hint!"

"it's a guy."

"that's not helpf-" and peter was cut off by the doorbell. "nevermind, we don't speak of this. can you please put these away for me?" mj nodded, and started putting the notes into peter's folder and into the organiser on his desk. peter opened the door, revealing ned and harley.

"betty's going to be here in about ten minutes, is mj already here?" ned asked, walking into peter's apartment, harley coming in right after him.

"uh, yeah. she got here a little while ago. go through to my room, i'll order the usual pizza? then it'll be here just after betty arrives." peter said. harley and ned nodded in agreement, walking over to peter's room. peter heard them greet mj, and they dived straight into a conversation.

and peter forgot about the notes for the rest of that evening.

~~~~~

peter almost expected a small note to be placed on top of his school books the following monday. but there wasn't. a part of peter was disappointed, before he realised that he didn't even know who these notes were from.

during first period, mj had quirked an eyebrow at peter, asking him if he'd received a note. peter just shook his head. the girl just shrugged and went back to reading her book. peter wondered if she'd confronted the person - well, boy - who'd written those notes. knowing mj, she probably had. then peter started to wonder. if mj knew who it was, would she have told them to leave peter alone? besides, she knew that peter had a big-ass crush on a certain southern boy, so it would make sense if she'd told the author of the notes that peter didn't have feelings for them - which would explain the lack of a note this morning. some part of peter was grateful, but another part of him felt guilty. he still wanted to find out who was writing the notes, even if mj had told him to leave peter alone.

~~~~~

peter didn't receive a single note that week, and although he was disappointed, he was also relieved. the lack of notes proved his theory he came up with on monday - mj had told the boy to leave peter alone - but peter was still no closer to finding out who had written those notes.

however, on the friday afternoon, as peter was getting ready to go to the tower for the weekend, he saw a note - longer than all the previous ones - lying on top of his school textbooks. he grabbed it quickly and read it.

_hey, i totally would've handwritten this, but i'm pretty sure you'd know who it was straight away. also, i can edit this easier if i type it. anyways, i'm hoping all of the other notes made you just a little bit happier. as cheesy as it sounds, i hate seeing you sad. as well as me trying to tell you all of the things i love about you, those notes were to try and cheer you up, because i know that flash's comments have been getting to you lately._

_also, i apologise for making you consider that this could be a joke. i would never do that. i know that some people would, but i tried to make them as personal as possible, just so you'd think they were genuine - and they are. i like you a ton._

_when i started writing these, i didn't know if you felt the same. to be honest, i'm still not sure - even though i have now received some information from a source that tells me that you do feel the same. which i'm surprised about. you could do a lot better than me._

_i'll stop rambling now and get to the point._

_i heard that you told mj about the messages i've been leaving you, and she's been pestering me everyday this week to confess to you. i tried to do it face-to-face, but i just couldn't form the words. so, here goes nothing, i guess._

_i like you, peter parker, a whole damn lot._

_\- harley_

after reading that, peter had the biggest smile on his face, and he ran out of the school, trying to find harley.

~~~~~

it took peter a good five minutes to get to the back of the school, where he found harley - who looked pretty anxious - just sitting there, fiddling with his fingers. the boy obviously wasn't paying attention, seeming as he jumped as peter sat next to him.

"i like you too, harley keener, a whole damn lot."


	6. day six: hurt/comfort

the first time harley saw peter come back from patrol injured was the day that he had found out that his boyfriend was spider-man. harley and tony had been in the lab - harley was coming up with new ideas for clint's arrows, and tony was upgrading natasha's widow bites. at first, harley hadn't even seen the young superhero drag himself through the window. what had made the boy turn around was the sound of tony dropping his tools on the floor.

"hey, mr stark. uh, i have a little problem." spider-man had said. and although he'd stated that it was a ' _little problem_ ', his voice was weak. harley could do nothing but stare, wide-eyed, at the superhero. harley noticed that he definitely recognised the voice of the boy behind the mask - but he figured that he'd work that one out later, there were more important things to worry about right now. 

"a little problem? kid, there's a knife _in_ you!" tony had rushed over to spider-man, who was now lying flat on his back. "friday? i need the med-bay ready. i need dr. cho and bruce down there. and i need someone to help me and harley get him down there. kid, how are you feeling?"

"it's... worse than the last one. hard to breathe but it's fine." spider-man had replied after taking a few deep breaths. it looked like he was trying to say something else, but tony cut him off before he could.

"save your breath. take the mask off."

"but- but- mr stark-" spider-man turned his head slightly, so that he was looking at harley.

"i don't care. please take the mask off, or i'll do it for you." tony watched as spider-man reached up to take the mask off. at first, harley couldn't see who it was - tony had just moved into harley's eyeline. there were a couple of whispered words between tony and the superhero, but tony eventually moved. revealing peter. peter. harley's boyfriend. lying on the floor, blood coming out of him, a knife in his side. 

harley couldn't explain the emotions that consumed him in that moment. it was a little too much for him to process right now. peter was spider-man. spider-man had just been stabbed. peter had just been stabbed. after a couple of seconds of silence, harley had rushed over to peter, and kneeled by his side. he'd question peter about this superhero business later. a moment later, someone came through the door of tony's lab, carrying a stretcher.

"the knife is still in him, right? none of you tried to pull it out?" the doctor - harley presumed - asked, placing the stretcher onto the floor.

"still in him." tony replied.

"okay, good. we need to get him lifted onto this." immediately, harley and tony had lifted peter, making sure to keep his body level, so that the knife didn't go any further into him. after what seemed like forever for both harley and tony - but really it was only thirty seconds - they had peter out of the lab and into the elevator. 

~~~~~

neither harley or tony were allowed to see peter for three hours. 

tony burned the time away in his lab - working on projects faster than he had before. in those three hours, all of his overdue s.h.i.e.l.d work had been finished, and tony had started working on a new suit for peter. of course, he didn't want to finish it - peter had taken a liking to helping tony adapt each new spider-suit, and the boy wouldn't be going out as spider-man for at least a few days, so he'd have plenty of time to finish this suit. tony had managed to come up with an idea for a thicker suit - one that knives couldn't get through - but it was still flexible, which tony knew that peter preferred.

harley had stayed in the lab with tony, but couldn't put his mind to anything. he was worried about peter. who wouldn't be? his boyfriend had just been stabbed. both bruce and dr. cho had assured harley that the damage wasn't major, and peter would be completely okay within a few days, due to his super healing. but harley was still losing his mind - there was so much blood, how was peter still conscious? harley felt sick to the stomach. he'd never quite understood why pepper found it so difficult to let tony go out on avengers missions. tony was _saving the world_. why was she so reluctant to let him go? but now harley understood. peter did so much for new york, and harley had always admired spider-man, but now harley wished nothing more than for peter to give up spider-manning - if he was going to get hurt like this. but harley knew that he wouldn't. 

"tony, harley, peter's awake. he's okay. he's a little tired and a bit drowzy from the blood loss, so he's not making much sense, but other than that, he's okay." bruce's voice came through the speaker. the announcement made both harley and tony jump out of their seats, and they both practically ran to the elevator. tony had seen peter in this state before, but it didn't make him any less worried each time.

~~~~~

and as soon as they walked into the medbay, peter spoke to them.

"i lived, bitch."


	7. day seven: "hurricane tortilla!"

"wanna go raid the fridge?" harley suggested, while he and peter were in the lab one day. they'd been in there for a while - two or three hours, maybe - and they were both getting hungry. it wasn't surprising that peter was craving food, but harley hadn't eaten breakfast that morning, so he was starving.

"sure, why not?" peter replied, placing his tools down onto the desk. he had been working on something bruce had asked him to look at, and it required a lot of programming, as well as putting parts together. harley should've offered to help, but he was desperately trying to finish something he was making for abbie's birthday. 

"friday, enable 'hurricane tortilla' protocol." harley grinned. he and peter had made this protocol when they had both decided to raid the fridge about a year prior. tony had walked into the kitchen to get some coffee, only to see the island in the middle of the room covered in biscuit wrappers and ice cream tubs. tony had muttered a ' _tell me when you plan to raid the kitchen again, i won't have to see this mess_.' and so, the protocol was created to tell tony when the two boys were planning on devouring half the sweet food in the kitchen.

~~~~~

within another three hours, the boys managed to eat all of the ice cream in the house. in their defense, there were only three tubs left, and clint had decided to join them halfway through, _and_ peter had an enhanced metabolism, so he could eat more.

they also managed to eat some of the oreos that tony had bought for peter a few days previously.

and - as always - their latest fridge raiding session ended up in a makeout session. god knows how, but hey, it was the only time that they were going to get some privacy during the day without tony watching them intently whenever they were within a five-meter radius of each other and a workbench.

~~~~~

it was dinner time when tony decided he was craving a dessert he hadn't had in a while.

"have we got any ice cream?"

"not sure. boys?" pepper replied, giving peter and harley a pointed look that gave them the feeling that pepper could see right through them.

"who knows?" harley shrugged.

"they ate it all!" clint almost shouted, pointing at peter and harley accusingly.

"you helped!" peter argued back.

"you initiated the protocol!"

"me, harley, and mr stark are the only ones who know that it exists!"

"well, i do!"

"only because we told you about it, while you were shoveling that massive tub of ben and jerry's in your big mouth!"

"friday, confirm?" tony interrupted the argument.

"'hurricane tortilla' protocol was initiated for three hours, starting at 1:24 pm. bird no.1 joined mini-boss and boss junior at 2 pm. they ate all three tubs of ice cream from the freezer. mini-boss and boss junior also ate two packs of oreos." friday said, receiving dirty looks from clint, peter, and harley.

"you two will be the death of me." tony sighed. and after receiving a couple of pouts from harley and peter, tony added on: "clint is nat's responsibility.


	8. day eight: karaoke

what was supposed to be an evening out between peter, harley, mj, ned, betty, and flash ended up becoming an 'avengers bonding session, plus family and peter's friends' (as tony had dubbed it). peter supposed that it was his fault. he probably should've told pepper that he and harley wouldn't be there for saturday dinner in a more private environment - rather than when the whole team was having a movie night. harley disagreed. he was trying to tell peter that this would be funny, and the reactions of all of his and peter's friends would be hilarious. especially if they didn't tell them that it wouldn't only be peter and harley joining them. the small group of friends had got this evening arranged a long time ago (by that, they mean a week ago, which is a long time for the group - who usually arrange this type of stuff the day before). they would go bowling, and then flash's parents had agreed to hire out a karaoke room for the evening - to be honest, flash doubted if they were even listening when he asked, but he was just glad that they agreed to do it.

peter and harley had imagined how each of their friends would react and had written it down in a checklist form. they decided that they would tick off anything that happened - just to see how well they knew their friends. they were originally going to write one each for each person and then bet on it, but once peter realised that he probably only had two dollars, they decided against doing that. besides, coming up with scenarios together was so much funnier.

they agreed straight away on how mj would react. at first, she'd be unbothered. until she noticed that nat, wanda, hope, and pepper were there. then she'd have an internal gay panic, while still having an uninterested expression on her face. the boys were unsure about what she'd do after that, but they eventually agreed that she'd ask them questions about how they felt, knowing that they were some of the most important and powerful women in the world. and the boys knew that the women being questioned would have no problem answering, and would most likely get along very well with mj. which scared them slightly, but they concluded that it would be fine - so long as no one let them interact for so long that they ended up scheming against the men in their lives.

ned would be freaking out the entire time. which both peter and harley supposed was a good thing. ned was amazing at bowling - and karaoke, for that matter - and having the literal _avengers_ in the same room as him was likely to throw him off his game ("gotta throw him off his rhythm." harley had joked, causing peter to laugh). some people would consider that cheating, but really, it would be ned's fault for having a fanboy moment.

flash would probably try to act unbothered, before asking where spider-man was. flash was the only one of the small group of friends that didn't know that peter was spider-man - betty had figured it out in a similar way to mj - and the rest of the group placed bets on how long it would take flash to realise. so far, harley and betty had lost. the former had said that it would take him three months, and betty had proposed six months, saying that peter had far too much faith in himself if he thought that he could keep it a secret from flash for a year and a half. they'd been friends with flash for a year now, and he didn't seem to have a clue. which peter and mj often found very amusing.

betty would probably take the situation the best, striking up civilised conversations with the avengers. besides, she'd told harley before that she'd love to talk to them in a more private environment ("not in a weird way, don't look at me like that!"), so that she could see what they were really like behind their public faces.

as it stands now, tony had managed to hire the whole bowling alley for a couple of hours that evening, so that peter and harley could have a lane with their friends, but the avengers could also have lanes. tony knew that he probably could've just booked four or five extra lanes, but he had to go over the top. also - as pepper had said - the fact that no one else would be there was most likely a good thing, seeing as it completely got rid of any chance of a pr mishap. and the avengers could be themselves - rather than put on their public personas. 

peter had warmed to the idea eventually and went along with harley's idea to keep it a secret from their friends.

~~~~~

"what's up flashmob-" 

"god, i _resent_ that." harley interrupted flash's intro to his new live stream.

"no one asked you, cowboy." flash glared at harley playfully, before turning back to his viewers. "to be honest, i gotta change that. anyways, i'm at the bowling alley with my friends, and then we're gonna go to a karaoke room that my parents hired out for us-"

"oi, flash, no need to flex your riches!" peter called from the stands where the different weighted bowling balls were. 

"you act like you and harley aren't pretty much adopted by tony stark!"

"and _you_ act like he just hired out this bowling alley for us." peter shared a smirk with harley - who winked in response - before continuing. "anyways, what weight do you wanna use?"

"ten or twelve." and once again, flash turned back to his viewers. "okay, so you've already met my dumbass friends, but just in case you're new, that one over there is peter, and the lanky cowboy over here is his boyfriend, harley. the scary-looking girl over by the thing where you put your names in - i have no idea what it's called - is mj, and the nerd with the star wars shirt over there is ned." flash placed his phone on the table nearby, clearly showing the alley, as well as being in view of where the people who weren't bowling would sit. 

the first round went peacefully. ned got a spare, mj got a seven, betty scored a five, harley managed to get a strike, and peter got a nine. and that's when tony stark decided to make his dramatic entrance, avengers in tow.

"alright, six of you a lane, don't argue, i can't be dealing with more than two teenagers and a four-year-old." tony announced as soon as he walked in the door.

"holy shit." flash breathed out, reaching for his phone.

"first of all, peter and harley aren't your responsibility tonight, _and_ morgan will probably pick me over you any day." natasha smirked, walking over to a lane, morgan on her shoulders.

"stop kidnapping my kids!"

"nah, i've only kidnapped morgan. pete would choose you over any of us. not sure about harley, though."

"i'd choose sam or bucky over the old man." harley piped up, gaining the attention of the avengers.

"it's because we're more fun." sam said, smiling proudly. "even though i hate the metal man."

"you love me." bucky replied.

"nah, steve's the only one willing enough to go near that god damn metal arm." and sam turned his back to bucky, which was a mistake really, because the latter put his metal arm against sam's neck, causing the _actual_ _falcon_ to yelp like a girl being scared by someone turning the lights off in a classroom.

"alright, that's enough, pick your lanes." pepper said, eyeing the phone that flash currently had facing the avengers. everyone immediately chose their lanes - no arguments needed. "also, i'm sorry, but i'm gonna need you to turn that off if it's a live stream. i don't want pr nightmares to deal with. not your fault, but this lot can't open their mouths in a public place without causing a lot of paperwork."

"yes, ma'am." flash said, ending the live stream and putting his phone away.

~~~~~

"you didn't tell us this was gonna happen!" flash whisper-yelled to peter and harley, once the avengers had started their games.

"well, peter accidentally mentioned it during movie night." harley shrugged, dumping peter in it.

"wow, okay. first of all, i was just telling pepper that harley and i wouldn't be there for dinner tonight. the team overheard. tony hired this out for the night. and now they're here." peter explained, glaring playfully at his boyfriend.

"wait, if this is all the avengers, where's spider-man?" flash asked. harley and peter grinned at each other, and the latter could hear betty, ned, and mj laughing behind them.

"flash, his identity is a secret. he's not just gonna turn up to a bowling night when there are normal teenagers here. plus, spider-man isn't even an avenger." peter said.

"okay, but you and harley already know his identity. it's only mj, ned, betty, and me who don't know who he is."

"it's only you."

"what?"

"ned accidentally found out. he climbed through my lab window and took his mask off, before realising that ned was in the room with me. mj and betty worked it out."

"am i _that_ stupid?"

"yes." the whole group chorused.

"aw, man. give me a clue?"

"we have a game of bowling to finish." harley said, picking up a ball and passing it to betty.

"i hate you guys."

"no you don't." betty smirked, continuing with her go.

the rest of the game went on like that. flash kept asking for clues as to who spider-man was behind the mask, and someone would change the subject. once they'd finished two rounds, the group of teenagers decided to order some food. originally, they'd planned to eat at the diner down the road but ended up feeling too lazy to walk over there. betty had been nominated to go and order the food, so everyone handed her money and gave her their order. 

~~~~~

"so, please give me a clue as to who spider-man is!" flash pleaded, once everyone had sat down and begun eating their food. 

"you've met him, like, hundreds of times." peter gave in to flash's persistent asking.

"i've- what? did i act like an idiot around him?"

"mhm. you're always an idiot, so i wouldn't worry about it."

"i know, but hey!" flash complained, kicking peter lightly under the table.

"ouch. maybe i won't give you any more clues then." peter had a sly smile on his face.

"wow."

"spider-man has abs." harley chipped in.

"that was unnecessary, harls." peter said, lightly punching his boyfriend's arm. everyone laughed at that, aside from flash, who currently looked like the gif of the woman with equations everywhere. peter made a mental note to make an edit of that later.

"alright, kids. finish your food up. what's the address of that karaoke place? we're joining you there, too. sam insisted on it." tony walked up to their table, stopping flash from questioning anything else.

"sam is suddenly _not_ my favourite. bucky's my favourite avenger on his own. fuck sam." harley muttered.

"you said you were only joining us bowling!" peter pouted. "now i'm gonna embarrass myself."

"you embarrassed yourself the moment you met all of us, kid. it's not like we haven't heard you and harley sing along to the songs you do on just dance."

"rude. scott's my favourite, seeming as harley took bucky, and morgan seems to have claimed natasha."

"ouch, kid. whatever you say, we're still coming along to the karaoke. now, what's the address for this place?"

flash gave the address to tony, still not saying a word.

"right, see you lot there, then." tony finished, sauntering away, following the avengers out of the building. peter put his head down on the table.

"hey, do you reckon they heard our brilliant rendition to rasputin?" harley said, laughing at his boyfriend's distress.

"tony probably got friday, karen, or sofia to record it."

"good point."

~~~~~

by the end of the evening, peter's phone was full of photos and videos of his friends and the avengers, singing their hearts out to whatever stupid song they'd picked.

sam desperately wanted to go first, wanting to show off his go-to karaoke song, which peter confirmed that sam practiced said song every day (peter could hear it from his room next door). sam had decided to sing to uptown funk because that's just sam all over.

pepper forced her husband to have a go next, seeing as it was his idea to hijack the teenagers' evening out. tony had sung to everybody loves me by onerepublic, and really, the name says it all.

steve had been forced to chose the last of the real ones by fall out boy, because betty had said that it was a good song, but it also fit steve's patriotism.

bruce hadn't wanted to join in, but eventually, tony had picked a song for him. basket case by green day ' _radiates bruce energy, to put it in harley and peter's terms_ '. the two teenagers whole-heartedly agreed and joined in with bruce for moral support.

natasha - just like bruce - had tried to refuse, but she knew that having a go was inevitable. and of course, she had picked black widow by iggy azalea and rita ora. again, self-explanatory.

clint was pretty much jumping at the chance to do karaoke after that, so he chose budapest by george ezra, which caused everyone to yell at clint. except for natasha - who sat in the corner with morgan on her lap, the both of them smirking (morgan knew something). betty, ned, mj, and flash looked confused, not knowing what the whole deal with budapest was, but they recorded the whole thing nonetheless.

bucky wanted to do mr. brightside, but that had ended up with everyone joining in because it was one of those songs that got everyone going. after that, peter had managed to convince the super soldier to chose another song, and bucky decided to sing along to hysteria by muse.

wanda had no problem choosing what song she wanted to do. she already had castle by halsey lined up, and was super enthusiastic about singing it. 

stephen had come away from guarding the sanctuary - leaving wong in charge - for that evening. he had planned to stay in the shadows during this part so that no one would realise that he hadn't had a go, but of course, harley had to go and ruin his well thought out plans. stephen kept refusing to have a go, and in the end, peter had to push him onto the platform, and harley chose clocks by coldplay. and even though this was one hundred percent peer pressure, the doctor went along with it anyway.

rhodey didn't want to do this, but when he remembered that black sabbath had a song called iron man, he volunteered to go next. anything to wind tony up.

scott was called on to go next, and he chose so what by p!nk. it was one of his favourite songs, and he wasn't afraid to admit that. 

and suddenly, people weren't as afraid of pepper's wrath and pressured her into singing malibu by miley cyrus. surprisingly, she went along with it. peter and harley decided that they would use this as blackmail material the next time that they wanted to go into the lab without tony's permission. pepper was strict on not letting that happen, but they were convinced that if they told her that they would project that video onto the empire state building, she'd let them in just once. it was a foolproof plan because the boys knew that they could make that happen.

happy had managed to sneak off back to the car, but as revenge, tony hacked into his phone and found happy's spotify playlist. which had bop to the top from high school musical. everyone decided to sing to that. tony, peter, and harley would be sure to pester happy about that one later.

scott had convinced hope to sing, and she decided to sing salute by little mix. no one was really surprised at the song choice, but they were surprised about the fact that scott had managed to persuade her to join in.

then it was betty's turn. she chose car radio by twenty one pilots. no reason, in particular, it was just the first song that came on when she shuffled her playlist.

ned chose to sing along to teachers by daft punk, after doing the same thing as betty. ned's music taste was all over the place, so he'd struggled to pick a song from the top of his head.

peter went next, scrolling through his music to find the song that he wanted. he grinned when he saw the sound by the 1975, knowing that tony hated that song ("pete, it sounds so creepy!"), and straight away, peter knew that was the song he was doing.

mj went next, choosing my my my! by troye sivan, which was one of her favourite songs at the moment. to start with, she was a little embarrassed, singing in front of the avengers was something that five-year-old mj would never _dream_ of doing. but she soon shook the nervousness off, realising that the team of superheroes had made fools of themselves more than mj was going to do herself.

flash didn't want to go last, so harley let him go next. flash's song choice was don't threaten me with a good time by panic! at the disco, because let's be real, it's one of the best songs to be written.

harley went last, deciding on singing to whatever it takes by imagine dragons. it was probably his all-time favourite song, and although it wasn't his go-to karaoke song, he knew that _that_ song could be saved for later when everyone was singing songs together.

~~~~~

eventually, after an evening of singing high school musical songs, meme songs, tiktok songs, minecraft parodies, and songs that were inside jokes for the group of teenagers, they all decided to crash at the tower - with tony's permission, of course. they spent the rest of the night re-watching the videos each of them had taken that night, and saving them all to friday's database. 

peter was lying on harley's chest on the sofa, mj was lying across the armchair, flash was sprawled out on the floor, and ned and betty were cuddling each other on the other side of the sofa to peter and harley. it was peaceful really, and the teens couldn't have asked for a better evening - even if the avengers decided to join them without warning.

"okay, i'm tired, i'm gonna try and sleep. i've gotta be out all day tomorrow. do you guys wanna help by tracking stuff?" peter asked. after receiving nods from everyone - except from flash, who gave peter a confused look (peter didn't explain what he meant to flash any further), peter smiled, leaning up to kiss harley, and then dozing off on harley's chest.

peter was about to fall into a deeper sleep when flash spoke up.

"wait, is _peter_ spider-man?"

and the group found the energy to sarcastically applaud flash.


	9. day nine: fake dating

"mr. stark, i messed up." peter said sheepishly, entering the billionaire's lab.

"what did you do _now_ , kid?" tony said, placing his tools down on the workbench and turning around to face peter.

"i, uh, _might_ have said that i was dating spider-man, and now the internet _might_ want pictures..." peter trailed off as he saw the look of exasperation on tony's face.

"god, kid. you're going to be the death of me. how did you manage that?"

"well, i tweeted about some stupid shit you did in the lab the other day, and i forgot that my account isn't private, and people started to question whether i was being truthful or not. anyways, a thread later, someone had gone through my twitter and instagram, and said that i had the same body shape as spider-man, and started to question me. i panicked a bit, and between us, ned and i managed to convince the internet that i was close to spider-man, and then someone said that it seemed as if spidey and i were dating, and i _tried_ to pass it off, but then i sort of _had_ to confirm it-"

"hold on a second, kid. breathe. so, you posted about the internship, people got interested, they thought you were spider-man, you said no, and then people started to speculate, causing the _entire internet_ to think you're dating spider-man, who is, in fact, yourself. correct?"

"yes."

"god. okay, i have an idea-"

"that's a first."

"shut up." tony glared at his intern playfully. "anyways, i need to talk to pepper, and we'll get the pr side of this sorted out, and then we'll see what we can do. for now, i want you to tweet or make an instagram post or _something_ , and ask for people to give you privacy. make some shit up about both you and spidey being minors, and it's illegal to harass you."

"that would be giving away information about my identity, though."

"you can't cause more of a mess than you already have."

"point taken. i'll make that post."

"see you later, kid."

"bye, mr. stark."

peter left the lab, running up to his room and immediately making the tweet.

~~~~~

**_best intern_ **_@p_parkour_  
okay, hi. so i said some things earlier today, and although they're true, i would appreciate if people didn't try and research into it. both spider-man and i are minors, and it's illegal to harass us (mr. stark's words). once miss. potts and mr. stark have sorted out this pr mess i've caused, i may be able to answer questions. as for now, we ask for you to respect our privacy. thank you! :)

**_the_** _**guy in the chair** @ned_gitc  
_ so he didn't get mad?  
|  
 ** _best intern_ **_@p_parkour  
_ surprisingly, no  
|  
 ** _the_** _**guy in the chair** @ned_gitc  
_lucky

_**emjay** @whatsuplosers  
_as i've said time and time again, you're an idiot, parker.  
|  
 _ **best intern** @p_parkour  
_wbk sis

_**tony stark stan** @avengersmemes  
_y'all better respect them or you're gonna have tony stark on your ass  
|  
 _ **best intern** @p_parkour  
_they should be more scared of miss. potts  
|  
 _ **tony stark stan** @avengersmemes  
_okay, true

~~~~~

"okay, kid," tony started, during dinner. "surprisingly, pepper has said my idea will work."

"now _that's_ a first." peter smirked.

"yes, i'll agree with you on that one. but anyways, i know a kid from tennessee, and he's only a few inches taller than you, so if people don't measure him, then we're good. so, i've spoken to him and explained the situation. turns out, he already knew about it; it was trending earlier or something. anyways, he's flying over here, and he's gonna leave school a week early so he gets here this weekend, and then he's gonna stay here for the summer. he'll wear the suit, and you guys can take photos together, act all romantic and stuff, but _please_ don't make me witness it." tony fake gagged before continuing. "get your friends over, and you can take group photos or get them to take photos of the two of you."

"okay... am i allowed to know this guy's name?" peter asked, surprised that tony had managed to come up with this idea as soon as peter told him the problem in the lab earlier that day.

"oh, yeah. his name is harley. you should get along well."

"is this the one who's garage you broke into?"

"yes."

"nice. i've always wanted to ask him about ways you embarrassed yourself in front of him. the stuff you mess up always makes good posts for the internet."

"no more unsupervised internet for you, kid."

"you can't tell me what to do."

"pepper can."

"shit."

"exactly."

"anyways, am i allowed to answer questions from the internet now?"

"sure, kid. i'll have to monitor what you're saying, though."

"fair enough."

~~~~~

**best intern** _@p_parkour  
_ okay, mr. stark said i can answer some questions now. he's also monitoring my responses, though, so i can't answer certain questions!

**tony stark stan** _@avengersmemes_  
how did you and spidey meet? and how did you get together?  
|  
 **best intern** _@p_parkour_  
i'm mr. stark's personal intern, so i was working in his lab when spidey came through the window with a knife in his leg (he was okay!), and then we became friends, i started designing some of his stuff, and yeah, we started dating about a couple of months ago!  
|  
 **tony stark stan** _@avengersmemes_  
nice! thank you for replying!

**garbage** _@hawkeye_stan_  
when will we get to see pictures of you two together?  
|  
 **best intern** _@p_parkour_  
soon! i don't have pictures of him & i with him in the spidey suit, so we have to take some!  
|  
 **garbage** _@hawkeye_stan_  
niceeeee

**emjay** _@whatsuplosers_  
what are you?  
|  
 **best intern** _@p_parkour_  
an idiot sandwich

**tin can man stan** _@ironcannot_  
my friends don't believe you, and they want tony to confirm (also, i believe you!! they just think that this is super sudden and like, no one knew who you were 24 hours ago)  
|  
 **best intern** _@p_parkour_  
understandable, tbh, idk if i'd believe me. also, tony's just getting onto twitter  
|  
 **you know who i am** ✔ _@tonystark  
_ i can confirm. peter is my intern and is dating spider-man  
|  
 **iron man replied to my tweet** _@ironcannot_  
omg omg omg okay thank you mr tony stark iron man sir  
|  
 **best intern** _@p_parkour_  
me when tony turned up in my apartment and offered me the internship

~~~~~

harley turned up at the compound a couple of days later. tony had managed to convince may to keep peter off school for a few days, due to all the attention that would be on here. at first, may had said that prolonging peter's return to school would just make it worse, but in the end, she had agreed to peter staying at the tower for a few days after the pictures were posted - so that things had a little while to calm down. but then he was going straight back to school.

"hey, i heard you're dating yourself." harley said, standing to the side of peter - who was working on web-shooters in tony's lab. it made peter jump slightly, even though he could feel a presence beside him before harley had spoken. 

"oh! hi, and yeah..." peter rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed at the situation he'd managed to get himself into.

"how did you even get into a situation where you had to say that?"

"honestly, i probably could've avoided it, but people were saying i was either dating spider-man or i _was_ spider-man. no one was taking 'i just know him' as an answer. i probably could've got out of it a different way if my friend mj had been online, but it was just me and ned, and, uh, yeah... we have one brain cell between us."

"fair enough. so... what are you working on?"

"my web-shooters, i need to be able to put more webs in them. i keep nearly running out when i get home from patrol, and i keep using it all up during missions. so mr. stark said i should probably upgrade them."

"nice."

the conversation topic continued to be about peter's web-shooters for a while, before moving onto harley's experiences with tony. peter would tell harley some of his own experiences too, but once he finished his web-shooters, he realised that the boy who he'd been talking to for the last half an hour was really attractive. peter decided that he was _definitely_ going to enjoy fake dating this boy.

harley was thinking along the same lines. he thought that peter was one of the cutest boys he'd ever seen. according to happy, peter was bi _and_ single, which meant that harley had a chance. the only reason he'd asked happy those questions was that harley had seen a picture of peter a couple of years ago (tony had sent it to him when the superhero had first got a real internship), and harley had immediately thought that he was adorable. harley was over the moon that the boy's personality matched his face. it would certainly be fun to fake date peter, although harley aimed for it to be not-so fake by the end of the summer.

~~~~~~

that afternoon, peter invited his friends over to the tower, where they spent a few hours making harley and peter pose for couple-like photos. the superhero found it a little weird to see spider-man in his peripheral vision - seeming as he was spider-man - but he got used to it after three-quarters of an hour or so. they took pictures of peter on harley's back, selfies where harley would kiss peter's cheek, some from in peter's lab, and some were just the two having a conversation, and mj or ned would take the photo. in the end, they took about twenty different photos (all taken in different parts of the tower) before deciding to retreat to the couch to watch a film. peter decided that he'd post the photos on twitter later.

~~~~~

_best intern_ _@p_parkour_  
here you go, kids. you'll get some more later. photo creds to _@whatsuplosers_ and _@ned_gitc_!!  
( _1: the two of them in the lab, spider-man's hands wrapped around peter's waist._ )  
( _2: the two of them lying down, looking at the sky, holding hands, on top of the tower._ )

**iron man replied to my tweet** _@ironcannot_  
these are so cute!!

**emjay** _@whatsuplosers_  
you're welcome dumbass. btw, you're today's hot topic at school  
|  
 **best intern** _@p_parkour_  
tell me when i'm not, then i'll come back  
|  
 **emjay** _@whatsuplosers_  
will do

**the guy in the chair** _@ned_gitc_  
are we taking more next weekend?  
|  
 **best intern** _@p_parkour_  
we'll see how long it takes me to post all of the ones we took today. we have until the end of the summer before things start to get busy again  
|  
 **guy in the chair** _@ned_gitc_  
fair

**potato boy** _@harleskeen_  
did you say no homo to spider-man after you took these bro  
|  
 **best intern** _@p_parkour_  
stfu bro

~~~~~

harley, peter, mj, and ned were all bundled up on one sofa that evening - peter in the middle - and they were all reading replies from peter's post from the previous evening. tony had told them not to reply to any - except replies from people that they were friends with (hence why peter replied to ned, harley and mj's comments). of course, there were a few hate comments, saying that the photos were fake - but when questioned by fan accounts, they failed to come up with a reply as to _how_ the teenager had managed to photoshop them. at least nobody thought that peter _was_ the superhero anymore.

after reading over a hundred replies, they got tired of the repetitiveness of them, and settled to playing wii sports with clint - who had jumped from the vents a few minutes prior, scaring all of the teens (excluding peter). mj and ned went home after dinner that evening but called peter when the superhero went on patrol. peter preferred it when he could talk to people when he was swinging through queens, especially when it got quiet.

~~~~~

after a few days, peter went back to school. the main topic of gossip was no longer peter dating spider-man (something had come up about an affair with some teachers? anyways, peter wasn't the centre of attention anymore), so he was spared from answering lots of questions. if anyone dared to ask something too personal, mj would just give them a death stare, and they'd soon apologise and back off. peter was relieved that things were going better than he'd thought they would. however, that couldn't last for long, could it?

~~~~~

"hey, peter! you should bring your boyfriend to prom!" peter whipped around, trying to see who had said that. brad. of course. peter rolled his eyes, refusing to answer. "peter! i'm talking to you!"

"i know." peter replied, not even turning around to face brad.

"so, what's your answer?"

"i wasn't aware that you were asking me a question." this time, peter decided to look at brad dead in the eye. tony had prepped him for stuff like this, telling him to try and brush off everything, not giving anyone any information. use confrontation if someone was being too persistent. mj's death stare hadn't seemed to have worked on brad, so peter was stuck with confrontation.

"fine. i'll rephrase. are you gonna take your boyfriend to prom?"

"he has _responsibilities_ , brad. i'm not gonna drag him away from his job for an evening, just for a shitty high school prom. and i'm pretty sure he wouldn't want to walk around with the suit on for the entire time."

"but surely, if he really liked you, he'd go with you anyways, even despite being spider-man. besides, can't we just sign an nda or something? then we legally wouldn't be able to tell the world who he was." by this point, the two of them had drawn attention from the people around them. which was the exact opposite of what peter wanted. he just wanted a peaceful lunchtime.

"look, brad. i'm not even going to ask him. he saves lives. do you have any idea how many people nearly get _killed_ in new york every evening? i could bring him to prom, or twenty-ish people could lose their lives. or have something physically or emotionally scarring happen to them. it's a decision that i don't even need to _think_ about. i'm not even going to argue about his identity. he wants that secret for a reason." and with that, brad shut up.

once sitting down, peter sighed and hit his head on the table. ned laughed (and then checked if his best friend was okay), and mj just smirked.

"to be fair, it's your fault you're in this mess." mj said, taking a bite of her sandwich and pulling a book out of her bag to read.

"if you'd been online when i needed help, maybe i wouldn't be considering death."

"if you'd never tweeted about tony, maybe you could be having a normal life."

"the universe doesn't want that for him." ned butted in. mj looked as if she was considering the statement, before nodding her head curtly.

"fair." and she went back to reading her book.

~~~~~

"what happened today? you're not being yourself." tony asked, looking up from his work. it was a friday night, meaning that it was peter and tony's allocated lab night. peter would usually be very effective with his work during these evenings, but today, he was unable to concentrate. the teenager was supposed to be fixing a bot that thor had broken when he'd last been on earth (he'd been scared by it crawling up the walls, and had hit it with his hammer). but peter just couldn't focus on what he was doing. the boy had also been unusually quiet, and tony noticed this.

"brad said i should bring spider-man to prom without the mask."

"please don't tell me that you said you would."

"no, i didn't. i said that his job was way too important for him to give up."

"then why are you so worried?"

"because spider-man _won't_ be patrolling that night, because _i'm_ at prom."

"oh."

"yeah." and then silence filled the lab. both tony and peter were thinking of ways that they could fix this problem. and that's how harley found them, their projects forgotten, sitting in silence, thoughtful expressions over their faces. as someone with no context to why they were like that, harley found it kind of funny.

"what's the problem?" the southern boy asked, making the other two in the room jump - even though harley had been in plain sight.

"peter got asked to bring spider-man to prom - without the mask - but he said that spidey would be patrolling. but he _won't_ be patrolling because peter's at the prom." tony briefly explained the problem to harley, who had a solution almost immediately.

"you could just get everyone who's going to the prom to sign an nda. tell them the situation - that peter is spider-man, someone else is in the suit - just for the internet - because peter wants to keep his identity a secret until he's a legal adult. that way, peter can bring whoever he wants to prom, and he wouldn't be questioned about why spider-man isn't on patrol when peter said he would be." 

"that sounds like a plan."

"wow. yeah, that sounds good. one problem though."

"what?" tony asked, turning around to face peter.

"i said that spider-man's job is more important than an evening out... so someone would need to do patrol for me, just so i don't get backlash from brad."

"brad?" harley questioned.

"the guy i was having this debate with."

"oh. i'll get scott to do it for you. he'll be able to get around new york as quick as you can - with the same element of surprise. i'll install karen into his comms so he knows where he needs to be." tony smiled. "thanks, harley."

"no problem, old man."

"i'll go and talk to pepper and see if we can write that nda. i'll need you there, peter, so you can tell us how much information you want to be shared with your school. i'll get friday to tell you if and when i need you."

"will do. thanks, mr. stark."

and with that, tony stood up and left the lab.

"so, parker. who are you inviting to prom?" harley smirked, cocking an eyebrow at peter.

"uh, i don't know..." well, that wasn't a complete lie. peter knew who he _wanted_ to ask, but he knew for sure that he wouldn't be asking that boy. even though they had only known each other for just under a week, peter had developed slight feelings for harley. it was stupid he knew that he shouldn't develop feelings this fast, but here he was, developing feelings anyways.

"aw, come on! there must be _someone_ you like!"

"yeah, but he doesn't return the feelings, so there wouldn't be any point asking him. besides, it's just a prom, so i'll probably end up going as friends with mj - seeming as shuri is in wakanda, and even with three months notice, i don't think shuri could take a trip over here for an evening _just_ for a high school prom."

"how can you be sure he wouldn't go with you?"

"because he wouldn't want to."

"to be honest, no one in their right mind would turn down an offer from you."

"w- what?"

"no one in their right mind would reject you. unless they weren't attracted to men, in which case, fair enough."

"i- there are lots of people that would just _love_ to reject me."

"i'm surprised at that, darlin'." peter blushed at the nickname, before turning back to the bot he was supposed to be working on.

"thanks. but you don't know the people i go to school with. anyways, can you help me with this?" harley nodded in reply, and brought a chair over, sitting way too close to peter (not that either of them was complaining), and they got to work on the bot.

~~~~~

**h - > mj, ned**

**h:** so

**h:** who's parker got a crush on

**ned:** he likes someone?

**mj:** ned, you're his best friend, and you didn't know this?

**ned:** the last time i knew he had a crush on someone was two years ago, when he had a crush on you, and i wasn't very helpful so i'm not surprised he hasn't told me

**mj:** he hasn't told me either, but it's o b v i o u s

**ned:** is it

**mj:** yes

**h:** w h o i s i t

**mj:** who's asking

**h:** me, dumbass

**mj:** and why are you asking

**h:** long story short, tony's getting an nda written that has to be signed by everyone in your year group, explaining how peter is spider-man, and how he had to get someone to be spidey for the internet

**ned:** why are we telling the year group i'm confused

**mj:** it's bc of the thing w brad earlier, loser. peter said spider-man would be patrolling instead of coming to prom. but peter's gonna be at prom. and spider-man isn't going to be patrolling. so people are going to get confused and think that spidey just bailed on peter or something. so once the nda is written, peter can ask whoever he wants

**ned:** ohhh okay i get it

**h:** so yeah

**h:** i asked if he was gonna take anyone

**h:** he said he wanted to ask someone but he's convinced that said boy is going to reject him

**mj:** of course he would think that

**h:** i told him that no one who's attracted to males or in their right mind would reject him

**mj:** and of course you'd say that

**h:** but he wouldn't tell me who it was

**h:** he just changed the subject to the bot he was working on

**ned:** wait

**ned:** i have suddenly figured it out

**mj:** you took your time

**h:** i am still confused??

**ned:** they're as bad as each other

**mj:** mhm

**mj:** but give this one a minute, he'll work it out

**h:** wait

**h:** he- really?

**h:** thanks guys

**mj:** no problem

**ned:** :)

~~~~~

"peter!" harley called, strolling into the lounge, finding peter curled up on the sofa, scrolling through something on his phone. harley flopped down next to him, leaning into the boy's side. "mj and ned told me who you want to take to prom!"

"they- what? they don't even know!" peter looked extremely flustered - which harley took as a sign that mj and ned were, in fact, right with their guessing. "well... i supposed mj probably does, even if i never told her."

"ned worked it out too."

"fuck. was it that obvious?"

"well, it took me a couple of minutes."

"and you're okay with it?"

"more than okay with it, sweetheart." harley winked at peter, causing the latter to blush even more.

"i- uh. so... do you wanna, um, go to prom... with me?" peter asked quietly.

"of course i would." and with that, harley kissed peter on the cheek, before switching on the tv and finding a film for the two to watch. harley put his arm around peter, and the superhero put his head on the taller boy's shoulder.

and that's how tony found them that evening, the both of them having fallen asleep halfway through the movie. the billionaire asked friday to take a picture, and then he left the two teenagers alone.


	10. day ten: tony stark

when peter parker disintegrated in front of his eyes, tony stark was at a loss. 

_"something's happening..."_

first, he'd watch the woman with antenna disappear - he never did know her name. he watched as peter quill looked helplessly at his friend, who had just disintegrated in front of him.

_"quill?"_

then, he'd watched quill watch as another one of his friends turned to ash. everything was happening so fast. no one could do anything about it. quill was looking around desperately, trying to work out what was going on. he'd just lost his friends. and tony was doing nothing about it. and however much peter quill had annoyed the billionaire that day, he was part of the team trying to stop thanos.

_"stay, quill."_

it's the only thing that tony could think of. truth be told, it wouldn't be much use, saying that wouldn't mean that the universe would pick someone else. if quill was going, he was going.

_"oh, man."_

and just like that, the pained expression from quill was gone. because peter quill was no longer there. he was just ashes, floating through space. as were his friends. 

because the avengers had lost.

_"tony..."_

no. tony turned around, wishing that he could just wake up from this nightmare. but it was real. all of it. there was no waking up. he was already awake. as he turned around, he saw the inevitable.

_"... there was no other way."_

the doctor took his final breath. and then he was gone. stephen strange. the one who had brought this to the attention of the avengers. god, now wasn't the time for a 'what if', but what if they had thrown the infinity stone away? would this have happened? no. but it was happening, and tony was watching his newfound friend disintegrate in front of him, just as quill had done with his two friends. 

_"mr. stark?"_

tony turned around again, fast. god, no. please. not peter. he was only sixteen. he hadn't even lived his life! he just wanted to make the world a better place. looking out for the little guy. he was such a good person, and he was going to lose his life right here. right now. on an alien planet. away from his aunt may. away from his friends. with tony.

_"i don't feel so good."_

then tony realised. the kid's spider-sense. he can feel all of this. for everyone else, they could only feel themselves going when they were already on their way. peter parker could feel every second of this pain. the kid was holding his sides, almost trying to hold himself together. and that broke tony. he couldn't save a kid. a kid he had tried his best to protect. a kid who he hadn't known for very long, but a kid he would drop everything for in a time of need nonetheless. 

_"you're alright."_

tony was shaking. peter was taking steps towards him and he wanted to tell peter that everything was going to be okay. he wanted to tell peter that tony would get them off this planet, they'd go back to earth, and they'd get everyone back. but he couldn't. the words didn't form as peter got closer and closer to him. 

tony didn't want to lie to peter.

_"i- i don't- i don't know what's happening- i- i- don't-"_

and then the kid practically fell into tony. tony held peter close to him. peter was gripping onto tony like he was his life support. like if he held onto tony for long enough, he wouldn't fade away. but tony could already feel the dust from peter's arm floating past his ear. he could feel peter's grip get lighter and lighter until it was barely there.

_"i don't wanna go. i don't wanna go. mr. stark. please. please! i don't wanna go. i don't wanna go."_

tony couldn't take it any longer, he stumbled forward, falling to the ground, trying to comfort peter, trying to keep the kid grounded. he tried and tried to hold onto him, but he couldn't. dust was starting to surround the two, and tony was just trying to focus on peter's face. but there was no stopping it. he was watching the kid - his kid - turn to ash right in front of him.

_"i'm sorry."_

peter looked at tony dead in the eye before saying it. and then he turned away, looking at the sky. and then he went. he was gone. peter parker was gone. tony grabbed at the ground. he didn't know what use that was going to be, and he didn't know what he was trying to do, but he continued to feel the ground, crawling in dust, knowing that said dust was his friends and teammates not even five minutes before. tony sat there, looking at his hand. the hand that had felt peter disappear beneath him.

_"he did it."_

and that's when tony lost it. he sat down, hands covering his mouth. he had failed. he had failed to stop thanos. he had failed to stop thanos and tony was still alive. god. tony was the leader of what was left of the avengers, and now they had failed. and tony was still there. tony had survived. he wasn't supposed to. the billionaire let a single tear roll down his cheek, and he felt a presence next to him. he knew it was the last of quill's friends.

and they stayed like that for an hour or two, before going to patch up the ship.

~~~~~

_"i lost the kid."_

those were tony's first words when he got off the ship. twenty-three days later. twenty-three days since he'd lost peter. thank god pepper was still here. thank god rhodey was still here. thank god natasha was still here. thank god everyone else who he considered family was still here. 

wait. vision. of course, vision was gone. vision. who had a goddamn infinity stone in him. he was family. he was jarvis. and he was gone. the creation of vision may have been a mistake, but he'd become part of the family. he had all of jarvis' code in him, and the only way he could rebuild the robot was to get to wakanda. but the princess who had access to his code had also been dusted. 

tony also had people to check upon. it may have been twenty-three days ago, but there were people that he knew the remaining avengers wouldn't have known to call. harley. his sister. his mother. god, what would harley be thinking right now - if he's still alive? would he be angry at tony? god, he hopes so. someone has to be angry at him. pepper wasn't angry. rhodey wasn't angry. tony needed to call harley. he needed to know if he and his family were okay.

but a certain argument meant that tony couldn't do that.

~~~~~

_"hey! this is harley. if it's important, you probably have the wrong number."_

voicemail. for the third time since tony had woken up. tony just hoped the boy was busy. but who would be busy? half the world had been dusted. and nearly everything had been shut down. tony knew that harley had probably gone, but he refused to believe it. even if it meant that tony had to physically fly over there and see if the boy and his family were okay. tony called again.

_"who is this?"_

finally, someone answered. it wasn't harley. it was a girl's voice. it must be his sister - the voice was too young to belong to a full-grown woman.

_"the mechanic. i'm friends with your brother. where is he?"_

_"i don't know! he- he just-"_

it sounded as if the kid was about to start crying. oh god. harley was gone.

_"it's okay, kid. you don't need to say anymore. is there an adult in the house with you?"_

_"yeah, my mama's here. harles just- he disappeared in front of us. we were talking about his car and then he had a pained expression on his face and then he was... gone."_

_"i understand, kid. i watched people disappear, too. can you put your mother on the phone?"_

tony knew for a fact that harley hadn't told his mother or his sister about the fact that he knew tony. they never went in the garage, so there was no reason for him to say anything. he heard muffled whispering before a woman started talking.

_"hello? i didn't know my son talks to fully-grown men."_

_"as far as i'm aware, i'm the only one."_

_"who are you? my daughter just said that you called yourself 'the mechanic', and harley has you saved in his phone as 'old man', so i have no clue who you are."_

tony realised that both harley's sister and mother had spoken about harley in the present tense, so tony decided to do the same.

_"of course he does. anyway, i'm tony stark, and i-"_

_"i've just lost my son, and you're pretending that you're a goddamn billionaire!"_

_"please, let me finish? i know that right now is difficult. i watched someone close to me disintegrate too, and i would never, ever, do this to mess with someone. i am tony stark. i can't lie to you. i was checking on harley to see if he... you know. i wanted to make sure he and his sister had an adult with them. i'll go now."_

_"i'm not sure how real this is, but i'm reading through messages now, and he calls you tony a lot and talks about the tower, so i'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. i have no idea how my son knows you, but we don't have time for that. thank you for thinking of my children."_

_"anytime. call this number if you need anything. i'll send food, clothing, a jet to get you to new york. anything you need."_

_"thank you, tony. i appreciate it."_

_"again, anytime."_

and tony hung up. he put his head in his hands. he'd lost two boys he saw as sons. he'd failed to protect them.

~~~~~

the day they managed to bring everyone back was amazing. seeing all those portals open rendered tony speechless. when he saw peter, time froze. tony almost forgot about the battle happening all around them.

_"holy cow."_

peter pulled tony to his feet.

_"you will not believe what's been going on."_

god. it was his kid. rambling like he always would on a day where tony would pick him up from school.

_"you remember when we were in space, and i got all dusty?"_

how could he forget? it was one of the worst moments of his life; watching peter slip away when all he could do was sit there and watch.

_"and i must have passed out because i woke up and you were gone-"_

he thought that tony left him. 

_**he thought that tony left him.** _

**_he thought that tony left him._ **

_"but doctor strange was there, right. and he was like, 'it's been five years, come on, they need us.'"_

tony could only stare at peter in disbelief. he couldn't believe that his time travel discovery had worked, and it was all worth it. it was all worth it because peter was standing there right in front of him. which must mean that harley is out there, somewhere. tony was so overwhelmed with emotions, he couldn't even move.

_"and then he started to do that little sparkly thing that he does all the time-"_

tony stumbled towards the teenager, opening his arms wider as he got closer.

_"what are you doing-"_

and tony hugged him. tight. tony didn't want to let go.

_"oh. this is nice."_

peter hugged tony back - just as tight - and that's all tony needed to hear before the battle continued.

~~~~~

at the reunion at tony's afterward, everyone is there. not a single person missed out. tony wants them all to be there. he may not know a lot of them - and he missed out on five years with them - but he wants everyone who had worked together to be there.

steve. who may have betrayed tony before, who made tony feel terrible when he got back to earth, but someone tony trusted nonetheless.

happy. who had always been there for tony. who had watched tony go from a terrible man into a man who saved the universe. he had seen tony at his worst but decided to stay.

rhodey. who had been friends with tony since they started mit together. who would always be with tony. the only person that tony could truly call his best friend.

pepper. who - although they'd had breaks - had been with him for the long haul. the only woman he'd even been with that gave him a chance. the woman who'd given him a life that he could only dream of ten years ago. the woman he loved.

morgan. the daughter he always wanted, but never thought he'd be able to have. the daughter who he'd get to see grow up - even though, hours before, he thought that he'd never see her again. but now - thanks to everyone holding onto tony and all taking a bit of the stones' power - he'd get to see her grow up into one of the greatest women of all time.

peter's aunt, may. who had lost her apartment, but still worked for herself. who wouldn't accept tony's offer of a place to stay. no. she was a strong independent woman, and tony couldn't help but admire her for that. she was so supportive of peter, despite the boy constantly putting himself in danger, and he wasn't even her own. but she treated him as such. and tony had to have her at the reunion party - however many times she told the billionaire that it wasn't her place.

thor. who had struggled so much through these past five years, but had pulled through for the final battle. tony felt sorry for him, truly, but his decision to stay with the guardians for a while was certainly going to allow him to have a break from running a kingdom.

valkyrie. who had thor grounded. who had helped peter during the final battle. who used to be so determined to stay as a scrapper on sakaar. who thought she was better off dead. but now, she was ruling asgard, and doing a good job of it too. 

bruce. who was his best friend; his science partner. who had snapped his fingers to get everyone back. who had somehow managed to bring natasha back. someone who tony truly couldn't live without.

natasha. who always kept tony together in times when he needed her the most. she was one of the people that knew tony the best, and would never judge tony for his reckless choices. she wouldn't leave him when he was being stupid. if anything, she would help him get out of the mess.

stephen. who had known the ending from the very beginning. who knew they only had one shot. who tony had seen disintegrate five years before. he was going to be leading the avengers - along with natasha - once both tony and steve retired.

wong. who was invited to tony's wedding, but never made it, as he was also lost in the decimation.

scott. who had come up with the idea to bring everyone back - even if it sounded stupid at first. to be honest, tony had completely underestimated his intelligence, but he never would again.

hope. who had started off hating the avengers, but had helped them in the final fight. tony would be forever grateful. not a lot of people would help out in a fight with people who they so strongly disagreed with.

hank pym. who's company rivaled stark industries, but who's work had meant that they could travel back in time.

janet van-dyne. who had been lost in the quantum realm before, but had managed to leave. if scott hadn't rescued her, they would never even know that traveling through the quantum realm was possible.

rocket. who always managed to make tony laugh, but had ultimately helped get the stones during the time heist.

groot. who was just a grumpy teenager, but had a very good aim with a gun.

peter quill. who may have annoyed tony to his wit's end, but he had a heart and gave tony a good laugh during the reunion party. yes, he might be stupid at times, but he was a good friend.

drax - or 'the screaming man', as morgan had dubbed him. tony didn't really know what to think of him - he was just surprised that he'd worn a shirt to the reunion.

mantis - tony had learned what her name was. she was also a bit dumb, but quill explained to him that she hadn't learned human etiquette as of now, but they were working on it.

nebula. who tony had developed an emotional attachment to. who had given tony the final few crumbs of food when they were preparing for what they thought was going to be their inevitable death. who had helped tony repair the ship. who had comforted tony - even if she didn't fully understand human emotion - when he was mourning peter.

gamora. who had lost her life five years ago - killed by thanos - but came back and joined the avengers' team straight away. no questions asked - even if she had no idea who the people on her previous team were.

t'challa. who tony had only fought with during the civil war, but tony knew he was a good man and had brought his entire army into this fight. who had been willing to sacrifice everything he had built in wakanda during the initial fight with thanos.

okoye. who had helped natasha during the five years of tony's retirement, and had run a whole country on her own after the loss of their king.

clint. who's family tony didn't know very well, but he had to invite them. they were one of the reasons that clint decided to help out the avengers after the snap, after all.

wanda. who had been through so much already. who had never gotten to grow up properly. who had lost her parents. who had lost her brother. who had lost the love of her life. tony swore to rebuild vision as soon as he could get to wakanda.

bucky. who had killed tony's parents, but who tony could forgive. bucky was respectful, and he had shown that he was completely different from his brainwashed self. tony couldn't ever repay bucky for blocking peter from a blast during the final battle against thanos a few days before.

sam. who was the first one to talk before everyone came through those portals. his voice had given tony hope that peter would come through one of those portals. and he had.

thaddeus ross and maria hill. who were s.h.i.e.l.d agents, and had done a lot of background work. tony could never repay them because, without them, none of the ships or technical problems would be looked after. they would've lost.

carol. who tony barely knew, but without her, god knows if they would've won during the fight. she took out that ship by flying straight into it. she'd saved tony and nebula on that ship, twenty-three days after the snap.

nick fury. who had given tony a chance. who had given tony time to change. who had given tony a place in the world. who had given tony an opportunity to restart his life for the better.

peter. who's picture had triggered something in tony, causing him to figure out time travel. who tony had seen fade away in front of him. the boy who had run over to tony straight after the portal opened. the boy who tony had seen, and known that all of this was worth it.

harley. who had known tony since the mandarin. who tony had to invite because it would've been wrong not to. who was another reason for tony coming up with time travel. the boy that tony could be sarcastic with, and he'd come back with an equally as witty comment.

~~~~~

tony stood in the corner of the room, marveling at the sight of all of his friends and teammates together, with no imminent threat over them. they were safe. and tony was so, so grateful for them, despite all of the arguments.

tony watched as morgan found harley, talking to him for a while before dragging him over to peter, who was having a conversation with his aunt.

tony watched as peter's eyes glistened over when he saw morgan, immediately lifting her on his shoulders, causing morgan to squeal with happiness. tony knew that both of his boys would be great brothers to morgan.

tony watched as peter finally faced harley, and harley finally looked at peter.

tony watched as a blush came over both of their faces.

tony watched as may teased peter later about the encounter. peter just lightly punched his aunt's arm, the blush back again. 

tony watched as peter and harley talked outside after dinner. he couldn't see what they were talking about, but they were both smiling, their cheeks flushed. tony smiled. he may have lost them, but he brought them back, and that's what mattered.

tony watched as the boys spent week-long holidays at the stark's house, laughing with each other.

tony watched as harley ran over to him, asking him for advice on how to ask peter to be his boyfriend. tony had just laughed, telling the boy that he needed to be himself - there was no way on earth that peter was going to reject him.

tony watched as his two boys had their first kiss with each other (although he didn't mean to witness it, they should've kissed somewhere more private, rather than in the kitchen).

tony watched as his two boys fell in love.

tony watched as his two boys went to mit together, begging tony to let them be roommates - just like tony and rhodey had been. tony had contacted the university straight away.

tony watched as his two boys carried on loving each other in the same way that tony loved pepper.

and that's where tony was now, watching his two boys get married, sharing a kiss that wasn't too different from their first. 

tony watched them dance with each other before he himself went onto the dance floor with pepper. 

he watched as peter and harley danced with morgan and abby - harley's sister, as tony had learned after the reunion party.

it had been eight years since the avengers had saved the universe, and tony was truly happy. his boys were happy. his daughter was happy. his wife was happy.

his family was happy.

and that's all that mattered.


End file.
